


Consider Me

by KayKel108



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), One Tree Hill
Genre: F/M, olicity - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-06
Updated: 2015-07-22
Packaged: 2018-03-29 08:24:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 40,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3889309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KayKel108/pseuds/KayKel108
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Crossover between Arrow and One Tree Hill. Timing is a concept Oliver Queen can't quite figure out. Oliver is certain he's found the one in Brooke Davis, socialite, designer and all around badass.  What Oliver finds in a certain blonde IT girl may not be what he expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Let me start by saying that if you don't know who Brooke Davis is, you're missing out on a great treasure in life! Hands down my favorite fictional character ever written. That being said, I thought I would throw her into the plot line of Arrow. Please let me know if this is worth continuing or if anyone is even interested in it!

Oliver Queen was a lot of things.  He was a son.  A brother.  Billionaire.  A playboy.  Friend.  Club owner.  College dropout.  One thing Oliver could say with absolute certainty that he was not, was a romantic.  He liked to love them and leave them.  He never enjoyed the seriousness that came with relationships.  He liked sex.  He liked a lot of sex.  The talking before and after didn’t really interest him.  He had tried the whole girlfriend thing with his longtime friend, Laurel, and that had blown up.  Apparently when you call someone your official girlfriend, that meant you couldn’t sleep with other people.  His mistake.  He had just never met anyone that held his interest for very long and that was fine by him.  The last thing he wanted was someone holding him down, wanting to know what he was doing and who he was with.  He was twenty-one years old.  He wasn’t interested in any of that.

“Ollie!  Come on, man.  We’re already so late!” He heard Tommy call from downstairs.

Sighing, he grabbed his wallet and his keys and headed down to his foyer, “I’m right here.  The party won’t start until we get there anyway.”

Tommy grinned, “I guess you didn’t hear then.”

“What are you talking about?” Oliver eyed him curiously.

Tommy patted his friend on the back and ushered him out the door, “No one will be looking at us tonight.” He jumps over the door of Oliver’s Porsche and sits in the passenger seat, “Brooke is coming.”

Oliver dropped his keys as he rounded the front of the car, “Brooke?!  As in Brooke Davis?  As in Brooke Penelope Davis?  Clothes over Bros, Brooke? Davis?”

Tommy threw his head back and laughed, “The one and only.  It’s good to see you’re over your little crush on her, by the way.”

Oliver picks his keys up and gets in the car, “Please.  I haven’t thought about Brooke in ages.”

The truth was that Brooke Davis tended to frequent Oliver’s thoughts.  She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.  They had been in the same circle of party friends for the last three years, ever since her company took off.  She was smart and generous and kind, but he could tell she was fierce and loyal and had a wicked sense of humor.  Well, he assumed all of this.  He had never managed to talk to her one on one.  Every time he got close, her date or her boyfriend of the week would be there to sweep her away.

“What is she doing in town?” Oliver asks after a slight few minutes of driving.

“She heard about our club and decided to fly in for the opening.  Pretty nice, huh?” Tommy tried to control his smirk.  He loved watching his best friend lose his shit over the one girl he could never manage to get.

Oliver nodded, “Extremely.  I’ll have to make sure to thank her.”

“Sure you will, buddy.  If you manage to actually speak to her this time.”

“Shut up, Tommy.”

 

The night was in full swing by the time he saw her.  She was by the bar, sipping on something he had never seen before.  She made a face at it and slid it away slowly.  Oliver quietly chuckled at how cute she looked doing that.  With three shots in him, he decided now was as good a time as ever to go for it.

He approached her and cleared his throat, “The bartender not make what you wanted?”

She turned to him and smiled brightly, “Well well, if it isn’t Oliver Queen.  What are you doing at a dump like this?”

She gestured around the room and he laughed,  “Oh I don’t know, I think I own it or so Tommy says.”

She slid her drink over to him, “Go on. Try it.”

He hesitates for a moment before grabbing it and taking a sip.  He wishes he had hesitated longer, “Sweet Jesus, what is that?  I am firing that bartender right now!”

She laughed and put her hand on his forearm, “Don’t do that!  I asked him to make it.”

“Were you trying to come up with a new poison?”

“I had him mix your most popular liquor with your sweetest…”

He tilted his head in confusion, “And why would you do that?”

She smirked slightly, “I wanted you to have something on the menu with my name on it.”

Oliver couldn’t contain his amusement and he cracked up laughing.  He placed both hands on the bar and lowered his head, continuing to chuckle, “That is the best thing I’ve heard all day.  You could’ve just asked for something to be named after you.  I would’ve done it in a heartbeat.”

“I bet you say that to all the girls.” She smiled and ordered a cranberry and vodka. When she turned back to him, he had his eyes on her.

“Just you, Brooke Davis.”

Blushing, she said, “He’s got game.  And here I thought you've been ignoring me all these years.”

Oliver put his hand over his heart in mock pain, “Me?!  Ignoring you?  Never.”

She took a sip of her drink, “Oh, much better. Well, if you aren't ignoring me, then I’m sure you’ll want to dance with me.”

Oliver looked out at the dance floor and winced.  He hated dancing.

She nodded, “No worries, Mr. Queen.  I’m sure I can find someone who will.” She winked at him and then walked towards the dance floor.

Oliver watches her walk away and then his eyes meet Tommy.  A flailing Tommy.  Tommy began jumping up and down and pointing at Brooke.  Oliver laughed, but nodded his head.  Tommy’s unspoken but very physical pep talk was what he needed.  He unbuttoned his suit jacket and went out on the floor.

She turned to him with a coy smile that took his breath away and pulled him closer, “Took you long enough.”

Oliver laughed and in a moment of courage he put a hand on her cheek and pulled her in for a kiss.  At first she didn't respond and he feared he had crossed a line.  He began to pull away but both of her hands came up to grab the sides of his face and deepen the kiss.

 

They dance for a while before she whispers in his ear that she’s ready to leave.  She takes his hand and they make their way through the crowd.  When he sees Tommy he mouths ‘oh my god’ as they pass him.  Tommy just laughs gives him a thumbs up and goes back to entertaining his blonde companion.

Brooke and Oliver take his Porsche back to her hotel.  He gets out and opens the door for her, laughing quietly.

“What’s so funny?” She asked, amused.

He shook his head, “Sorry, I just never thought this would happen.”

She smiled, “So you've thought about this, huh?”

“Only every time I see you.”

She takes his hand and hers and they walk to the elevator, “I was beginning to wonder if you would ever talk to me.  So, imagine my surprise when I get a call from Tommy saying that you wanted me at your party.”

Oliver’s eyes widened in surprise but she didn't seem to notice.  Tommy had just proven again why he was the best wing man in existence.

“The party is always better when you’re around.” He answered.

They reached her door and she unlocked it.  She pushed up on her tiptoes to whisper in his ear, “Well, lucky for you, the party is just getting started.”

 

 

Oliver sat up with a start, disoriented by his surroundings.  The night came flooding back to him, making him smile.  Every fantasy he had about Brooke Davis was exceeded last night.  The entire experience was perfect.  The only downside he found was that she was not in bed.  The door to the bathroom was open and the light was off.  She wasn’t here.

Sighing, he got up and threw his shirt back on, noticing a note on the desk table.  He walked over and picked it up. It read,

* * *

 

_Oliver,_

_Thank you for making a girl feel welcome in Starling.  I don’t mean to be the kind of person to love’m and leave’m but I have a board meeting back in L.A. this afternoon.  You looked too peaceful to wake.  Feel free to stay and enjoy the room.  Tommy has my number, the next time you’re in L.A., call me._

_B.D._

* * *

 

Oliver read over her words a few times before sitting back down on the bed.  He rubbed his hand through his hair.  Just as fast as she had come in his life, she had vanished.  He knows she’s a busy woman, more successful in her own right than he will ever be, but damn.  He had hoped for breakfast.

Oliver finished getting dressed and made his way down to his car.  Pulling out his phone, he called Tommy.

“Oliver Jonas Queen, you dog you.” Tommy picked up and skipped the greetings.

Oliver smiled, “Anything you want, it’s yours.”

“Was she everything your little heart had hoped for?” Tommy questioned.

“I don’t kiss and tell, but I will say that I’m going to need her number.  She left this morning before I woke up.”

“Hold the phone. You mean to tell me, that Oliver Queen got Oliver Queen’d?  She left you before you woke.  Aww, did you cry?”

“Shut up, Merlyn.”

Tommy laughed before answering, “I’ll send you her number.  But I will warn you, she’s a heart breaker, man.  I’d be careful.”

Oliver started his car and revved his engine, “I can handle myself.  What happened with that hot blonde you were talking to when I left last night?  That turn into anything?”

“Felicity?” Tommy questioned, “Oh no, Ollie.  I completely forgot to introduce you to her.  She’s not up for grabs, unfortunately.  She’s our new head of security, actually.”

Oliver laughed, “She seems a little small to be head bouncer don’t you think?”

“Not physical security.  She runs all of our software and security footage.  Also, the programs that run the registers and I.D. scanners.  I decided top of the line was more important than saving money when it came to security.”

Oliver nodded, “Absolutely.  Good call.  Plus, she’s easy on the eyes.”

“Down boy.  Seriously, off limits.  She’s a sweet girl.  She doesn't need guys like you or me ruining that.”

“Understood, boss.  I’m headed back to the house for a shower and some food.  Driving range later?”

“As long as there’s alcohol.”

Oliver chuckled, “Is there any other way to play?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the feedback. This project is moving slower than I thought it would, but I'm enjoying the challenge!

Two days had passed since his night with Brooke and he decided it had been long enough.  He wanted to contact her.  Usually, women would call him, or show up to where they knew he’d be.  It bothered him that she hadn’t tried contacting him, not even once.  No calls or texts, nothing.  Despite hating romance, Oliver felt like he wanted to hold on to this girl.  He had liked her for so long from a distance and he didn’t want to mess it up.

He sat in his office at Verdant on his laptop.  Just as he was pulling up an order of roses from a florist in L.A., his computer froze.  He tapped all the keys and the power button multiple times but it wasn’t helping.

Huffing, he picked it up and went down the hall to Tommy’s office.  Knocking on his door, he called, “Tom, you in there?  You know how to fix a frozen computer?”

“Have you tried turning it off and then back on?”

Oliver spun around to find a petite blonde he recognized as Felicity from opening night.

She continued, “Tommy left an hour ago.  Give it here.” She held out her hand and he handed the laptop over with no hesitation.

“Felicity Smoak, right?”

She nodded, “Yes. Follow me.”

He followed her down the hall to a smaller office that he had assumed was a supply closet, “I didn’t know this was even here.”

“At least you’re pretty, I guess that’s what counts.” she stately matter-of-factly and then her eyes widened, “I did not just say that out loud.  I am so sorry.  Not that you’re not pretty, I just mean, I’m sure you have a brain too.  I’m just going to stop talking now.”

Oliver tilted his head in amusement.  This girl was interesting, “Do you think you can fix it?” He nodded towards his computer.

She smiled and pushed her glasses up, “If it’s fixable, trust me, I can fix it.”

She sat down and began pulling out cords and typing on her own laptop.  He took a seat across from her and watched.  She was extremely focused.  He noticed that because most girls would occasionally look up if they knew Oliver Queen was watching them.  She didn’t even bat an eye besides her one foot in mouth moment.

“All done.”

His eyes widened in surprise, “Really? That quick?”

She smiled, “I told you, Mr. Queen.  If it’s fixable, I can fix it.”

“Please, Mr. Queen is my father.  Call me Oliver.”

“Oliver it is.”  She said, handing him back his laptop.  She adds, “By the way, red roses? Seriously.  Very cliché.”

Oliver laughed at her bluntness, “Well then, what would you have in mind?”

“Oh, I don’t know.  Be creative.  Make her believe you mean what you say,” she smiled and added, “Even if you don’t.”

“Ouch.  I’ll keep that in mind, Miss Smoak.  Thank you for your help.  I’m glad Tommy hired you.  He’s not always the best decision maker, but occasionally it seems he comes through.”

“If I’m calling you Oliver, feel free to just call me Felicity.”

“Noted.” He answered, with a smile.

Oliver got up and walked to her door and she waved and turned back to her computer.  Oliver was struck again by how unaffected she seemed around him.  He let himself out of her office and made his way back to his.  He smiled, thinking of their conversation.  She was right, roses were cliché. 

Back in his office, he picked up his phone and called his sister.

“Hello?” Thea answered.

“Speedy! What’s up?” he replied.

“I’m just staring at some geometry.  Say something that gets me out of finishing this homework.”

Oliver laughed, “For once, I can save you.  You said you wanted to go to L.A. for a fashion show the other day right?”

“Ollie! Please tell me you aren’t joking?!”

“Pack a bag, Clothes over Bros is having one tomorrow and we have just enough time to catch a flight and make it.”

Thea jumped up and down on her bed and squealed before replying, “Wait.  Did you ask Mom and Dad?”

Oliver snorted, “Yeah, okay.  Sure.  Just leave a note with Raisa.”

“Oh, good idea.  Okay. I can be ready in half an hour!”

“See you soon.” Oliver replied and hung up.

Yes, this would be much better than roses and he’d look like a caring older brother, bringing Speedy along.  He’d have to spend more time with Felicity.  That girl knew what she was talking about.

 

“So, I want to know more about Brooke Davis.  What’s beneath the clothes?” Oliver asked, sitting across from her at the restaurant she had suggested.

She smiled mischievously, “I think we both know that you know what’s beneath the clothes.”

He laughed, “You know what I mean.  What’s behind the company?  How did a small town girl become a millionaire business woman?”

She twirled her pasta in her bowl for a moment, thinking.  She answered, “Tree Hill, North Carolina.  I was cheerleading captain, school president, resident party girl.  I wanted more.  High school handed me a lot of low blows and I wanted a way out.  So, I took any opportunity available and I got the hell out of there.”

Oliver nodded, “Sounds like there is a much longer story buried in there somewhere.”

She smiled at him, “Maybe one day I’ll fill in the gaps.”

“I certainly hope so.”

She leaned back and took a sip of her wine, “Oliver Queen.  Playboy extraordinaire.  Why do I get the feeling you’re being serious?”

He laughed, “Because maybe I am.  When I woke up the other day and you weren’t there, I was genuinely disappointed.  That’s never happened before.  I don't really know what to make of that.”

“I think what you’re trying to say is, ‘Brooke, I like you.’ Go on, try it.” She said, challenging him with her eyes.

He found himself thinking that he had never met someone so confident, and he knew himself, “Brooke,” He paused for dramatic effect, “I like you.”

A triumphant smile broke out across her face, “See, that wasn’t so hard.”

“Not at all.  Thea is out with some friends in town tonight before the fashion show tomorrow.  Would you like you grab dessert, maybe go for a walk?”

“Isn’t your sister like 15?  Are you sure she should be out in L.A. without supervision?”

Oliver shrugged, “We’ve been without supervision since we could walk and swallow solid food.  She knows how to take care of herself.”

“Hmm.”

“What?” he asked.

“Nothing, it’s just that I have a feeling that there is a much longer story buried in there somewhere.”

Oliver laughed, “Maybe one day I’ll fill in the gaps.”

“I certainly hope so.”

 

The next few months follow suit.  Oliver flies to see her or she comes to town for him.  For the first time in his life, Oliver Queen has a girlfriend.  And he likes it.

Oliver spends most of his days at Verdant, working on paperwork or hanging out with Tommy and Felicity.  Despite only ever being just the two of them, Oliver found that Felicity fit right in.  And when she wasn’t there, he missed the light she brought.

 

The only thing not going well in his life was his family, which wasn’t new.  Oliver found that he increasingly had less patience with the aristocracy of his mother and father.

 

“Oliver, I’m simply saying that you still have to go.  You said you would, and it reflects poorly on the family if you choose to not honor your commitments.”

Oliver stood in front of his mother, knowing this was a battle he had already lost.  He might as well give it his best shot though, “Mother, I told them I would go to this gala with Brooke.  Brooke cannot come, so I would much rather just pay for our seats and opt out.”

“Oliver.”

Oliver knew that her tone meant that this conversation was over.  He mentally cursed her and nodded his head, “I will go.”

“And I’m sure you will find a date.”

Clenching his fists, he nodded.

 

Oliver walked into Verdant fuming.  His mother always seemed to get under his skin.  As much as he loved her, he hated how controlling she was.  It was never about what he wanted, only what he could contribute to the family name.

“Hey, Ollie?  What’s the matter, man?” Tommy slowly put down the spreadsheet he was using to count inventory behind the bar. 

“Moira.”

“Ah.  Didn’t get out of the gala tonight?”

Oliver shook his head.

Tommy sighed and threw a bar rag over his shoulder, “You need a drink.”

Oliver laughed softly and rolled his eyes, “No.  What I need is a date.  Apparently, I am also not allowed to buy Brooke’s seat since she can’t come.  I have to bring someone.”

“Hey, don’t even think about asking me.  All of my formal dresses are at the cleaners.”

“You’re not funny, Tommy.”

Tommy laughed, “Don’t lie to yourself.”

Tommy and Oliver both turned towards the stairs at the sound of an unhappy Felicity.

“You’re got to be freaking kidding me.  Great.  Just great.  The one thing I do not need. Fan-freaking-tastic.”

“Felicity?” Oliver called out and she poked her head out of the hallway so that she could see them down the stairs.

“I, uh, I didn’t realize you two were down here.  Sorry.”

Oliver motioned for her to come down by tapping on the seat next to him, “Your day sounds to be going about as well as mine.  What’s wrong?”

She huffs and plops down on the seat, “It’s my mother.  It’s always my mother.  She decided to tell me, just now, in a text message that she decided to fly with Cooper out here to see me this weekend.  They'll both be staying with me when they get in tomorrow.  Cooper has already texted me complaining about having to share the weekend with Mom.”

Tommy put the drink he was making Oliver in front of Felicity, “Here you go.  You could use this.”

“Hey!” Oliver said to his friend.

“Sorry man, she has mom AND boyfriend drama.  She wins.”

Oliver looked at Felicity and sighed, “Fine.  You’re too good for that guy if he’s going to complain about having to share you with your mother.  He should be lucky you’re allowing him to see you.”

Felicity smiled and placed a hand on his forearm, “Wow, I think that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.  What do you want?”

“I need a date for a charity gala tonight.” Oliver answered with no hesitation, making Tommy laugh.

“Ha.  No.  Nope.  No, not going to happen.  Where is your lovely Brooke?”

“Lovely Brooke has a conference she has to be at.  There is no one else I’d rather hate my life with tonight than you, Felicity Smoak.  Don’t make me beg.”

“Because he totally will.” Tommy added.

Felicity was quiet for a moment before answering, “We don’t stay long.  And afterwards you take me to Big Belly Burger because I’ll have to starve for the rest of the day to look presentable in a dress tonight.”

Oliver pulled her in for a hug, “Deal! You are remarkable!”

She smiled, “Thank you for remarking on it.”

 

Oliver’s limo pulled up in front of Felicity’s apartment at 7:45 and he walked up and buzzed her number.

“Oliver?”

“Hey.”

“Come on up, I’m almost ready.”

Oliver is buzzed in and he rides the elevator to her floor.  He wiped his hands on his pants before knocking on the door.  He was slightly nervous, the more he thought about it the more he didn’t want to mess up their easy friendship.  

The door opened and he mentally slapped himself for ever inviting her.  It took a moment before he realized he wasn’t breathing or saying anything. 

Her hair was much longer than Oliver had assumed.  It was partially pulled back and slightly curled at the bottom, something he had never seen.  She wasn’t wearing her glasses and had on darker eye shadow and a soft pink lip.  Once he got past those differences, he noticed her dress.  It was pink, but not an overwhelming shade.  It was tight at the top and flowed loosely at the bottom and Oliver found that he had never seen a dress better made for someone.

“You look incredible.” He managed to say, holding out his arm for her to take, “Ready?”

She smiled, “Thank you.  Yes, I am.”

 

Oliver found that he had a much better time than he assumed he would.  The party was as dull as ever, but Felicity entertained him with her views on the people around him.  She would pick a person and tell him what she thought they were thinking.  When she was spoken to she would be polite and enjoyable but talk so far over their heads that they would leave them alone almost immediately. 

“You’re my hero, you know that?” Oliver said, handing her a glass of wine, “I hate these things, but somehow I’ve managed to enjoy myself.  I have you to thank for that.”

Felicity smiled up at him, “The night is still young.  In my opinion, things have gone far too well, something is bound to happen.” As if on cue, Oliver’s mother steps into the room, “Well, that was perfect timing.”

Felicity points to where his mother is as she’s headed their way, “Shit.  I didn’t want you to have to go through this.”

Before Felicity has a chance to ask what he means, his mother approaches, “Oliver, it is so lovely to see you here.  I’m glad you were able to make it.” She looks at Felicity, “And to find a plus one as we discussed.  Hi, I’m Moira Queen, it’s lovely to meet you.”

Felicity takes the outstretched hand, “Very nice to meet you as well.  I’m Felicity Smoak.”

“Well Miss Smoak, if you don’t mind me asking, how exactly do you know my son?” Moira’s smile didn’t reach her eyes.

“I work for him and Tommy at Verdant currently.  I am their head of technology and cyber security.”

Moira’s smile dissipates,  “I see.  And what qualifications do you have to run security and technology for two billionaires' business, other than your pretty face and sparkling personality?”

Oliver groaned, “Mother.”

Felicity interrupted him, “Let's see, I graduated with a master’s degree at the top of my class from M.I.T. at 20.  Where did you go to college Mrs. Queen?  Or did you marry Mr. Queen before you had to do that?”

“Okay, well, Mom, Felicity and I are really tired from all the fun we’ve had tonight so I’ll see you Sunday for lunch.”  He grabbed Felicity and ushered her out one of the doors before he completely lost his composure.

He let out a roaring laugh and collapsed against one of the hallway’s walls.  He put his hand over his mouth to try and lower his volume.

“It’s not funny, Oliver.  She’s so mean!  She was--  Stop laughing.  Stop it.” Felicity had both hands on her hips, watching Oliver.  Her anger subsided quickly watching him shake with laughter and she began laughing as well.

“You.  You just called my mother a gold digger to her face.  Did you see her face??  Oh God.  I need to tell Thea, hold on!” He pulled out his phone as they walked to his limo.

She watched him as he gleefully texted Thea, Tommy, and Brooke of what had just happened.  She hadn’t meant to be so nasty but his mother was so cold and rude that she defaulted to bitch in order to match what she was facing.

 

“Only the best for Felicity Smoak, M.I.T. class of ’09.  Big Belly Burger.” Oliver said, breaking her from her thoughts.  He got out and held a hand out for her, which she took.

“You really know how to treat a lady.” She laughed as they slid into a booth.

 

They order their food and sit in a comfortable silence for a few moments before Oliver speaks up.

“So, tell me about M.I.T.  I never managed to stick around in the colleges I went to.” He stuffed a few French fries in his mouth and grinned, making her laugh.

“Well, it was certainly an experience.  I graduated high school early so I was kind of an odd duck out there in the mix of all of the other students.  I kept to my computer and books mostly.  All that time and I never even saw a beach on the East Coast.  Spent most of the time in the library, which was actually where I met Cooper.  After we graduated, he moved to Las Vegas and accepted a position in a casino as their technology manager, like I do at Verdant but more large scale.”

“And you ended up in Starling City even though your boyfriend and your parents are in Vegas?”

“Just Mom.  I barely remember good ole Dad, he left when I was young.”

Oliver put his drink down and put a hand on hers, “I’m sorry to hear that.”

She patted the hand that rested on hers and shrugged, “Don’t be.  And to answer your question, Las Vegas is nothing but the place where your dreams go to die.  I came here with a summer internship at Queen Consolidated actually.”

Oliver’s eyes widened in surprise, “I didn’t know you worked for my dad.  What happened?”

“I just didn’t enjoy the cubicle life.  It was fine and had nice benefits but I wanted to do something where I could have more control and enjoy myself a little more.”

Oliver smiled, “And now you’re stuck with Tommy and me.”

She laughed, “Every woman’s dream.”

Oliver was about to make a joke when his phone rang.  He looked down and smiled, “It’s Brooke.  I’ll just step out and take this.”

He patted her shoulder as he passed by and out the door and she smiled.

Her waitress came to top off their drinks, “You two are sure dolled up for a diner.”

Felicity looked up at the woman, “Nothing beats a good hamburger after a charity gala.  I mean, this is my first one, so I can only assume nothing beats it, but scientifically speaking I can’t form an informed opinion with only one data point.”

The waitress just shook her head and smiled, “I can see why he finds you so cute.”

“Oh, no.  He and I are just friends.”  She looked out the window to where he was laughing on the phone.

“Whatever you say, honey.” The waitress disappeared as Oliver came back through the door.

“How’s Brooke?” Felicity asked, taking another bite from her burger.

“She’s good.  Her conference went well and she’s going to fly the red eye tonight to spend the rest of the weekend here.”

She smiled at his happiness, “Oh that’s great!  I’m glad she’s got some time for a visit.”

 

They finish their meal and they go back to her apartment.  After walking her to her door and thanking her again for a wonderful evening, he heads to the bar for a drink before going home.

“Please tell me you got Felicity out-bitching your mom on camera?”

Oliver turned to see Tommy leaning against the bar.  Oliver laughed and slid the beer he had just poured over to his friend, grabbing himself another glass, “It was glorious.  I could’ve kissed her right then and there.  My mom was caught so off guard.  That Felicity is a firecracker.”

Tommy nodded and took a swig of his beer, “Believe me, I know.  Did you know she went through my phone wirelessly and deleted every Candi, Brandi, really any name that ended with an 'i'.  She’s ruining my love life.”

Oliver threw his head back and laughed, “She’s helping you out is what she’s doing.  We had a talk about you the other day and she may have brought it to my attention that you’ve being having lunch with Laurel lately.”

Tommy looked down in his drink, “That was supposed to stay between she and I.”

“Well, she was worried about you, and so am I.  Man, I dated laurel in high school.  I’m in a very happy relationship.  If you want to go for it, don’t feel like you’re breaking bro code.  If she makes you happy, I’d be a douche to get in the way of that.”

Tommy nodded and gave a small smile, “Thanks man.”

They sit in silence for a few moments before Tommy adds, “While we’re on the subject of Felicity, sort of, what is up with that dick of a boyfriend she has?”

Oliver shook his head, “Beats me.  She deserves so much more than some kid who can barely manage to visit her and complains the whole time.  Did she tell you that he wanted her to pay for his plane ticket?”

“What an ass.”  Tommy concluded.

“Any guy would be so beyond lucky to have a girl as special and smart and funny as Felicity in his life and this guy is just taking her for granted.” Tommy nodded as Oliver continued, “Anyway, Brooke gets here early tomorrow morning so I’m going to head home and clean up a little.”

“Night, bud.”  Tommy watches as he friend walks out of the night club with a shake of his head.  He couldn’t help but think that Oliver would have a lot more on his plate with Brooke than cleaning up for her if she ever heard the way he talked about Felicity.

 

 

“So you’re telling me she just up and called her mother out for marrying up?”  Brooke sat in his bed typing on her computer.

He came out of the bathroom running a towel through his hair, “I’m telling you Brooke, it was the greatest thing I have ever witnessed.”  He sunk down on the bed and kissed her shoulder, “What are you working on? I thought you were all mine for the rest of the weekend.”

She looked at him and sighed, “I wish that were true, but I have a confession to make.”

He eyed her suspiciously as she continued, “I’m a workaholic.  It’s bad.  I need help.”

Oliver leaned back on his pillow and laughed, “I’ve never heard truer words in my life.”

She close her laptop and lies her head on his bare chest, “Thank you for being patient with me.  I know I’m difficult and I micromanage things and I’m an all-around nut case.  Thank you for sticking around.  Most guys don’t stick around for very long.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I’m not most guys.” Oliver replied, kissing the top of her head.

She sits up and looks at him, “Come with me?”

“Where?” Oliver asks, amused.

“I’ve got to go to Tree Hill next week for my godson’s birthday.  Come with me.” She traces figure eights along the top of the hand she’s holding.

“Are you sure you’re ready for me to meet all of your friends?”

“I’ve never brought a boy home.  They’ll be surprised.  But they’ll love you,” she paused for a moment before adding, “like I do.”

Oliver grinned and pulled her in for a kiss.  When he released her, still holding her cheek, “I love you too.”

 

The plane landed and he grabbed her hand.

She laughed, “You’re nervous, aren’t you?”

“Am I that obvious?” He asked.

She shrugged her shoulders, “Your face is an easy read, Queen.”

He took a deep breath and stepped off the plane.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still feeling this whole idea out, but I appreciate all the support!

The first thing he noticed about her friends were that they were nice. Genuinely.  For some reason, after she told him that high school had delivered low blows, he assumed the worst.  The truth was that Oliver never very many friends.  Even growing up, people tended to see dollar signs instead of honest friendship.  Tommy understood, which was one of the reasons their friendship came so easily.  Tommy didn’t want his money or prestige, he had his own, if not more.

Oliver found himself sitting by the pool with a man named Mouth and a broody looking man named Lucas.

“So, how long have you and Brooke been a thing?” Mouth questioned.

Oliver took a sip of his beer, “A couple of months.  It’s new, but really good.”

Lucas squinted his eyes, “Did you know she was a millionaire before you started dating her?”

Mouth choked on a mouth full of beer and Oliver laughed.

“You think it’s funny?  Look, I don’t know you and I trust Brooke, but she’s been hurt too many times by too many people.  I’m just laying it out there that if you are after something other than her affection, you’ll have to answer to all of the guys at this party.”

Before Oliver could reassure this Lucas character of his intentions, Brooke approached.

“Oliver, I know you have to be back in Starling for your Labor Day bash at the club tomorrow, but I just got a call from the airport that all of the incoming flights have been delayed.  I don’t think your plane will be here on time.”

Oliver shrugged and pulled out his phone, “That’s alright, Dad actually just texted me that the jet was in D.C. where he’s taking a few business meetings.  He said he would like me to meet him for brunch tomorrow and then I can take the it back.  He’ll be on the east coast for at least a week.”

Brooke smiled, “Well that’s perfect timing!  I hate that you have to drive all the way to D.C. in the morning, though.”

Oliver grinned and answered, “Also not a problem.  John will be here tomorrow morning bright and early.”

“Who’s John?” Lucas interjected.

Oliver turned back to him with a smirk, “John is my personal driver and occasionally my bodyguard when the situation calls for one.”

Mouth shook his head, “I knew you looked familiar.  Oliver, as in Oliver Queen.  Heir to billions.”

“In the flesh.”

Brooke patted him on the back and looked to her friends, “I just wanted you to see him as a person, not some celebrity.”

Lucas took a big swig from his drink, “Glad you could come for Jamie’s party.” and then walked off.

Mouth chuckled, “I know you don’t know him, but watching him be wrong is such a delightful addition to my day.  You’re always welcome around here.”

 

Later that night, after Jamie and his friends went to sleep, the group sat around the fire pit, swapping stories, attempting to embarrass Brooke.

“Okay.  I'm sure she’s told you a lot about herself, but I bet she never told you about the time she punched her friend Rachel in the face.”  Haley looked at Oliver with a grin.

“Haley James Scott!  We are not playing this game!” Brooke exclaimed.

Mouth laughed, “If she isn’t playing, I will!  Brooke got pissed at Lucas for not getting that he couldn’t date other people even though she said he could date other people.  Anyway, Rachel was naked in his back seat and BOOM punch to the face.  If only I could say that was the only time Brooke punched Rachel for being, Rachel.”

Oliver laughed and Brooke took another swig of her beer.

“Wait a second,” Oliver pointed at Lucas, “This is the high school boyfriend that caused so many problems?”

Nathan laughed, “Lucas. Felix. Nick. Chase. Take your pick of assholes that Brooke had to deal with.  Though, she probably was talking about Luke.”

Brooke sighed, “Can you see why I don’t bring guys around?  And, excuse me, Chase wasn’t a bad guy.”

Oliver laughed and pulled her closer to his side, kissing her forehead, “I think those relationships worked out exactly like they were supposed to if it put me sitting here by you tonight.”

“Okay.  That settles it.  He can stay.” Haley said with a smile and Lucas rolled his eyes, but nodded in agreement.

They sit and share stories for a few more minutes, Oliver telling them a little about his background and what his does now for his club.  He was about to tell them about Tommy when his phone rang, “Speak of the devil, if you’ll excuse me, I need to take this.”

He got up and walked out of earshot out into the yard, “Tommy? What’s up?”

“Hey man, I know you’re busy, but you need to know what’s going down!” Tommy slurred.

Oliver smiled, “Are you drunk?”

“I’m being supportive, are YOU drunk?” Tommy returned.

“Tommy, why did you call?”

“Oh, right.  Douche nugget broke up with Lis.  And she’s so wasted right now!”

Oliver tensed and his jaw clenched.  He felt helpless being so far away from them when they clearly didn’t have someone watching out for them.

“Is she okay?  Why did you get drunk?  Who’s driving you two home?”

“Yes, Dad, she’s okay.  If by okay, you mean dancing on top of the table and singing karaoke.  I got drunk because everyone else was doing it, duh.  And Laurel is on her way to get us, only Felicity doesn’t know that yet.” Tommy took a deep breath, satisfied with answering all of the questions.

“Our bar doesn’t have karaoke, Tommy.” Oliver pinched the bridge of his nose with two fingers.

“Try telling her that.”

Oliver laughed, “I’m flying back tomorrow around noon.  I’ll swing by and see how she’s doing.  I can’t do anything from here.”

“Ollie, Ollie! No, man. I just remembered why I actually called.  Asshat broke up with her and told her she wasn’t good enough for him.  SHE WASN’T GOOD ENOUGH FOR HIM.  Said that she was just holding him back. Can you believe that shit?  Then just scampered on back to Vegas. I swear, man, if I had gotten my hands on him.”

Oliver’s fisted clenched.  Felicity didn’t deserve that.  She was too good for Cooper.  She was genuine and kind and he’d make sure Cooperr knew that, “Don’t worry about it, Tommy.  He’ll know how wrong he is soon enough.”

 

* * *

 

Back in Starling City, Tommy nodded as he hung up his phone.  Leaning back in his office chair, he looked out over the crowd at Felicity taking another shot.  Sure, he may have lied about his own drunkenness, but he needed to make Oliver’s actions seem like Oliver’s idea, that’s all. 

He looked up as Laurel walked in his office, “She really is out of it, huh?”

“I wouldn’t have called you, it’s just that she really needs to get home before she gets sick and I am going to be stuck here with paperwork for a while longer.”

She walked over and leaned down to kiss his cheek, “You’re a good friend, Tommy Merlyn.”

He looked down at his phone and thought back to his conversation with Oliver, “I hope you’re right.”

* * *

 

 

Oliver walked into his house a few hours later than his mother expected.

“Oliver, is that you?” She called from her sitting room.

He sighed and rolled his eyes.  Turning around, he headed back towards her.  He had hoped to make it to his room without anyone seeing him.  He walked in and immediately heard her gasp.

“Oliver Jonas Queen!  What happened to you?!”  She was up and cupping his face before he could get a word out.  He had a busted lip and a black eye.

“You should see the other guy.” He responded, knowing his mother wouldn’t like that answer.

She backed away, “Are you telling me that you got into a fight?  Oliver, don’t you think you’re a little old for child’s play?  How do you think this will look when the press finds out?”

He sighed at her tone, “Yes, mother.  I am too old for it.  I had too much to drink and I let my emotions get the better of me.  No press were there.  No one will know.”

She pursed her lips together and nodded, “I don’t even want to know what it was about.”

Oliver knew she wouldn’t care enough to ask too many questions and for once he was thankful.  He didn’t really want to think about it.  He just wanted a hot shower and an ice pack.  He walked back into his foyer towards his stairs and noticed John still standing by the door.

“John, you didn’t have to stay.  I’m sure you have places you’d much rather be than babysitting the likes of me.”

John smiled and nodded towards his face, “I could stand to do a better job of babysitting.  You come home like that again while I’m on the clock and I just may be out of a job.”

Oliver winced, “I didn’t even think about that.  I’ll tell them I told you I was going to bed or something.”

John nodded, “How about next time you keep your face protected or either tag me in.  I know you were pissed at the guy, but I wouldn’t have minded a swing or two.  That Felicity of yours is something special.”

Oliver looked at his bodyguard for a moment, thinking about all of the times he had been in the room but not really a part of his life.  He’d have to work on that.  He nodded and headed to bed.

 

 

The next morning he walked into Verdant with sunglasses on.  Tommy was behind the bar, checking inventory.

“Ollie!  Man, I don’t know how to tell you this.  But, you look like shit.”

Oliver laughed and then winced at his cracked lip.  He held up his purple hand and Tommy sucked in a breath, “Damn man.  I guess you ended up letting Cooper know how you felt, then.”

Oliver just nodded, “Is she here?”

Tommy gestured towards the stairs, “Office.”

Oliver walked towards the stairs and Tommy shook his head.  His fears had just been confirmed.  No matter how with Brooke Oliver said he was, there was something about Felicity that drove him towards her and Tommy couldn't help but feel like there were rough waters ahead for everyone.

 

“Knock, knock.”  Oliver said to her open office door.  He smiled at the sight before him.  She had on sweat pants, an oversized t-shirt and sunglasses herself, with her head on her desk.

“Come in.  Or don’t.  I don’t care.”

  
Oliver chuckled and sat down in front of her, waiting for her to notice his appearance.

She sighed and sat up.  She immediately gasped and pulled off her sunglasses, “Jesus, Oliver!  What the hell happened to you?!”

“I got in a fight.”

“I can see that, I'm hungover, not blind.  Details.  Now.”

He sighed, “I wish I had a more entertaining story for you.  Just some douche bag that rubbed me the wrong way after I had had too much to drink.  He got in a couple of good punches, as you can see by my face.  But he definitely got his share of them in return.”

She leaned back and crossed her arms, “Aren’t you a little old for drunken shenanigans?”

He cocked his head to the side, amused, “You sound like my mother.”

“Get out of my office if you’re going to sit here and insult me.”

Oliver leaned back and crossed his feet on her desk, “Well now that you’ve told me to go, I have to stay.  You, by the way, pull off hungover magnificently.”

She looked down at her attire and shrugged, “Not my best look.”

“I find it hard to believe you have a bad look, Felicity Smoak.” He looked at her thoughtfully and then added, “You want to talk about it?”

She sighed, “So I guess you heard about Cooper.”

“Tommy may have mentioned it.”

She nodded, “Yes.  Thomas may have saved my dignity last night getting Laurel to take me home.  It wasn’t pretty.  If I'm being honest, I’m not even heartbroken, I think I’m just kind of shell shocked.  I mean, I’ve been with the same guy for the last four years of my life.  And then he just decides I’m not what he wants, which is his prerogative, but it leaves me with more questions than answers and this big fat ‘where do I go from here?’ feeling.”

Oliver put his feet down and leaned forward to take her hand in his, “Look at me.  If you’re not what he wants, so be it.  His loss.  There is gonna be a guy out there for you that will never let you go and you’ll know when you find him.  As for where you go from here, I have the answer to that.”

She raised her eyebrows, “Oh yeah?”

“You’re hungover.  I’m beat up.  So you’re gonna get up and put your basic bitch uggs that I know are under your desk back on and we’re going to drown our sorrows in Big Belly Burger and you can tell me all of the worst things about him, or not talk about him at all.  Your call.”

She laughed and nodded, “You know, you may just be my best friend.”

He laughed and opened the door for her, “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this isn't a very long chapter, but I'm building towards something, I promise! I hope you're enjoying it!

The next week flew by for Oliver.  The club was extremely busy and Tommy had decided to choose this week to visit family in Vermont, leaving Oliver in charge.  Oliver wasn’t good at being in charge.

 

“Felicity! Felicity!!”

Felicity sighed and walked into his office, “If you don’t stop screaming my name, people downstairs are going to get the wrong impression.”

Oliver squinted his eyes and looked up at her, waiting for her to backtrack.

She closed her eyes and shook her head a couple of times, “I swear things sound cleaner in my head before I say them out loud.  What do you want?”

Oliver chuckled and motioned for her to come around to his side of his desk, “I keep trying to put in the inventory like Tommy showed me, but every time I hit submit it just refreshes the page and deletes what I’ve put in.  I need to get it done before he comes home tomorrow.  Help me.  Please.  I want to sleep at some point tonight.”

Felicity smiled and cracked her knuckles, “There is no point in showing you the right way when Tommy comes back so soon, so just let me.  Get up.”  
 

Getting up, Oliver squeezed her shoulder as she switched places with him, “Thank you, Felicity.”

She began putting in the numbers and Oliver found himself leaning on the back of the chair, looking over her shoulders.  He was mesmerized at how quickly she was typing and reading the numbers off of his papers.  It would’ve taken him four or five times as long to do what she was doing.

“You really are something else.”

She stopped typing and looked over at him, surprised by how close he was to her.  She pushed the glasses up on her nose, “Just a lot of practice.  I’m sure you’re a pro in… well… something.”  Her face fell as she realized she didn’t know much about him besides his day to day life.

As if sensing her train of thought, Oliver said, “Let’s play a game.”

“What?”

He smiled and moved around to his guest chair and took a seat, “I’ll tell you something you don’t know about me and then you tell me something I don’t know about you.”

She cocked her head to the side, “Why?”

Oliver’s face fell, “I just thought.. never mind, it was stupid, I’m sure you’re ready to go home too.  I’m sorry for keeping you here longer than you need to be, don’t let me interrupt you.”

He pulled out his phone and began looking through his apps for something to do.  Felicity resumed typing but found herself glancing up at him every few words.  She couldn’t figure him out.  He seemed so interested in her life and enjoyed her company, but he was in a happy relationship.  She had never had just a guy friend with no intentions of something more and she had a hard time finding the line in her mind that told her what was appropriate.

While still typing she decided that getting to know each other was what friends did and that just because he was super model gorgeous with the body of a Greek god didn’t mean he couldn’t know more about her.

“I broke my tail bone when I was nine.”  She said, not taking her eyes off of her computer.

Oliver looked up at her working and gave her a small smile, “What happened?”

Her hands paused over the key board and she shook her head, not believing she was actually sharing this story.  She sighed and answered, “I was at a park and thought that it would be a good idea to jump out of the swing and land Indian style.  It wasn’t a good idea.”

Oliver laughed, “Were there people around?”

“Stop laughing.” She tried to keep a straight face but broke out in a smile, “It’s not funny.  I had to use one of those butt pads at school for weeks!”

“Well, nothing I have competes with that.” Oliver said.

“Oh no, your turn.  This was your idea!” she countered.

He nodded and thought for a moment before answering, “Okay, one time I was in the car with Thea.  Dad had bought her a new hamster because she saw the pet store and wouldn’t stop screaming until we turned around and got her something.  Anyway, we’re driving down the freeway.  This is horrible.  Never mind, let me think of a different story.”

“Oliver Jonas Queen, what did you do to that hamster!?”  Felicity had already finished her work on his computer and had both elbows on the table, looking at him.

He lowered his head, “Okay, in my defense, I was like eleven.  We were driving down the freeway and I wanted to hold him.  She hands him to me and he immediately bites me.  I freak out and fling my hand back to get it away from the thing, my finger is bleeding.  Then I look back down and the hamster isn’t there.”

Felicity put her hand to her mouth, “No you didn’t.  You did not throw a baby hamster out of a moving car onto the freeway while your baby sister watches you.”

Oliver nodded, “I’m a horrible person.”

Felicity laughed, “No you aren’t.  But you definitely win.”

“Besides Thea and my dad, no one in the world knows that I did that.  We turned around and got another one for her and some ice cream and just kept the whole ordeal between the three of us.”

Felicity laid a hand over her heart, “I’m flattered that you entrust me with such a personal tragedy.”

He looked at her for a moment and what came out of his mouth was not what he had expected, “I’d trust you with just about anything, Felicity.”

He found himself faced with the fact that this statement was completely true.  Oliver wasn’t a trusting person.  Being heir to billions of dollars made him wary of almost everyone.  And even though Felicity had no wealth to her name and he had only known her for a handful of months, he was surprised to know with a certainty that she was one of the very few people he was sure of in his life.  He trusted her completely.

“Thank you.” She answered, visibly touched.  They were silent for a moment.  Before the silence turned awkward she added, “One time I locked my mom’s boyfriend in her bathroom and used his credit card to order Chinese takeout.”

“You did not!!”

 

Tommy found the two of them asleep in Oliver’s office the following morning.  Oliver’s feet were on the edge of his desk and his head drooped down, arms folded.  Felicity’s arms were dangling by her sides and her face was plastered to the desk.  After he got over his confusion at their state, he started chuckling.  Never in all of the years he’s known Oliver Queen has he seen him asleep in anything but a California king down mattress with silk sheets.  Ollie was a great guy, but a billionaire through and through.

“Rise and shine sleeping beauties, the day is new, they flowers are blooming, the birds are chirping!”

Oliver and Felicity both startle awake and take in their surroundings.  Felicity is the first one to speak, “Who closed the bar last night?”

Tommy smiled at her train of thought, always on top of things, their Felicity.  She probably wouldn’t like his answer though, “Sam, the bartender, locked up last night.  He texted me around three when you two hadn’t come down yet and asked if it was cool.  He said that he had heard Oliver screaming your name earlier and decided to leave you two alone up here.”

Oliver and Felicity looked at each other before breaking down and laughing, remembering Felicity’s foot in mouth moment.

“Am I missing something?” Tommy asked.

Oliver stood and stretched, “No, brother, just an inside joke.”

He looked down at his phone and his smile fell, “Oh shit.  Shit!”

He got up and threw his jacket on, patting his pants, locating his keys.

“What’s going on?” Felicity looked up at him from his office chair.  He took at moment to take in the fact that her fresh from sleep look was a thousand times prettier than most women’s every day look.

“I, uh..” He shook the thought from his mind, “I have like ten missed calls from Brooke and a message that says that she’s at my house when I decide to be an actual boyfriend and pick up the phone.”

Tommy winced, “Ouch, man.  Did she tell you she was coming in last night?”

Oliver thought for a moment, “I..uh, I don’t think so.  I’ve been pretty busy this week holding down the fort.  Which, by the way, you are way better at, but I honestly don’t remember her saying anything!”

Felicity stood up and put both hands on his shoulders, “Look at me.  Calm down.  You’re going to grab your helmet, get on your bike and go home.  Before you go in, you’re going to run your hands through your hair because, woah, rat’s nest.  You’re gonna tell her exactly what happened, even though it seems a little suspicious.  There is a security camera in this room if she feels she needs to check your story.  She’ll forgive you.  You two will be just fine, okay?”

He looked into her eyes, letting the resolve and calmness she exuded settle on him.  She was right, everything would be fine.

“Thank you, Felicity.  And ouch about the hair..”  He patted one of her hands on his shoulder and looked over at Tommy, who was leaning against the door frame, watching them, “You think you can handle things here today without me?”

Tommy laughed, “Please, it’ll take me all day just to fix some of the mess ups you’ve managed this week.”

Tommy patted his friend’s back as he passed him and out the door.  Tommy glanced back at Felicity who was gathering her phone and putting her shoes back on.  He didn’t miss the almost confused look she had on her face and it made his brows crinkle in frustration.  As much as he liked Brooke, he couldn’t help but wish these two would open their eyes and see what’s right in front of them. 

 

Oliver took a deep breath and opened the door to his apartment.  He found Brooke sitting at his island in the kitchen, sipping on a cup of coffee.

“Brooke, I am so sorry.  I have a really simple explanation, I swear.”

Brooke looked up at him and sat her coffee down, “You didn’t come home last night.  I told you I would come and see you for the night, seeing as it’s been six months since our first date, and you never came home.”

Oliver closed his eyes, vaguely remembering his phone call with her early in the week.  He looked down, “Baby, I am so sorry.  I completely forgot that you said that you were coming here.  I wish I had a better excuse, I’m just really sorry.”

She looked at him and sighed, “I’m not mad that you forgot I was coming.  Well, I’m kind of mad about that, but I know how busy you’ve been with work this week.  What I am mad about is that you stayed out all night and didn’t answer any of my calls.”

He exhaled, relieved that she wasn’t too mad about him forgetting she was coming, “That’s actually an easy explanation, I was just with Felicity.”

He smiled, like that was all the explanation she’d need.  She’d know that nothing bad happened.  He smile faltered a little when her face didn’t brighten up.  He added, “We fell asleep.”

Brooke pursed her lips together, “Try again, Oliver.”

Oliver was confused for a moment before her realized how that sounded, “Oh! God, no, sorry.  She was fixing my inventory sheets at the club.  I kept doing them wrong and Tommy was on his way back and I just wanted to have done one thing right before he got there.  I just sat in there while she did the work and we got to talking.  The next thing I know, Tommy is waking us up this morning.  We both had just fallen asleep at the desk is all.  I promise.”

She looked at him for a moment with squinted eyes.  She nodded once and stood up, walking around the island towards him, “I believe you.  But I need you to look me in the eye and tell me that nothing is going on between you two.”

He grabbed her hands and held them to his and answered, “I care about Felicity.  She’s kind and funny and she’s my friend.  She’s just my friend.”

She sighed and squeezed his hands in hers, “I believe that you believe that.”

“What does that even mean?” Oliver questioned.

She turned around and poured him a cup of coffee, “I’ve been through the whole ‘I care about her, but I love you’ thing.  It didn’t work out great for me the first time.  I’m just saying that it’s easier than you think to get those lines blurred.”

He grabbed the cup and took a sip.  He sat down at the island and ran his hand through his floppy hair, “I’m telling you, Felicity is my friend.  She’s the only female friend I have and I value her, I won’t belittle our friendship.  But, she’s not the one I fly hours to see every month.  She isn’t the one I sleep in with and listen to snore.”

“I don’t snore.”

He smiled, “Let me finish.  Felicity is special.  She’s a great person that has worked extremely hard to get where she is today.  We didn’t hire her because she was pretty.  Well, Tommy might have, but we kept her because she knows what she’s doing.  And she became more than an employee for me AND Tommy.  When I say that I love you, I mean it.  I’ve never been in a serious relationship and I’m trying so hard to do this right.  Please cut me some slack.”

She was silent for a moment before answering, “You know, for someone who has never been in a serious relationship, you’re pretty good at apology speeches.”

He grinned and leaned down to kiss her.  She pulled away and added, “But don’t make a habit of slumber parties with your hot IT girl.”

He laughed, “Noted.”


	5. Chapter 5

_She was flipping pancakes.  He couldn’t make out anything but the smell of batter and the sound of it frying.  Oliver laid still on the couch with one hand behind his head and the other resting on his stomach.  He was as content as he had ever felt.  Light was filtering in through the blinds, creating a warm glow throughout the room.  There was some hipster band playing on a vinyl record player he didn’t remember having.  Despite not knowing who it was, he seemed to be able to hum along.  Looking around, he realized he wasn’t in his apartment.  If he were less content, he’d be slightly curious as to where he was, but he didn’t care.  He knew she was close and that calmed him.  He heard her bare footsteps softly approaching him._

_“We’re out of eggs, so just pancakes.”  She smiled at him as she sat the plate on the coffee table and moved to lay on top of him, “Hope that’s okay.”_

_He tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and let one hand roam the expanse of her back, under the flimsy white t-shirt he realized was one of his, “We can go to the farmer’s market later if you want.”_

_She crinkled her nose as she smiled and leaned down to kiss him gently.  His hand cupped the side of her face, enjoying this moment of perfection._

_She pulled back and said, “Who knew Oliver Queen would end up being such a softy.  He goes to the farmer’s market.  He listens to Ingrid Michaelson on a record player.  He eats pancakes with me at four in the afternoon just because I’m in the mood.”_

_“What can I say, you in my t-shirt just does something to me.”_

_She dropped her head onto his chest and laughed, “You say that now but you were saying the opposite last night.”_

_“Well, you out of my shirt does an equal amount of something to me.  You in general.  You’re remarkable.”_

_She sat up and grabbed a pancake and stuffed part of it in her mouth, “Thank you for remarking on it.”_

_He leaned his head back and laughed._

_He sat up suddenly and his face turned serious, eyebrows creasing in confusion.  Something was wrong.  She moved off of him, but remained close, rubbing his shoulder, “What’s the matter?”_

_He looked down to where her hand was rubbing comforting circles along his arm.  He looked back at her and she gave him a small but encouraging smile, looking confused herself._

_“Felicity?”_

_“Hmm?”_

_“What am I doing here?”_

_She let go of his arm and shrugged, “I don’t know, Oliver.  It’s your dream.  You tell me.”_

* * *

 

Oliver shot up in his bed, covered in sweat.  He looked around, gathering his surroundings.  What the hell was that?  He ran his hands down his face and over his growing stubble.  He looked down at his hands and clenched them to stop the shaking.

He quickly grabbed his phone off his nightstand and called the only person he could.

 

“So you’re saying that you dreamed you were super whipped and extremely happy about it?” Tommy questioned, sitting in a booth at Big Belly Burgers.

Oliver huffed, “If you’re gonna joke about it, let’s just drop it.”

“Hey, if you wake me up at 5:00 a.m. and drag me to a 24 hour diner to talk about your dreams, I get to say whatever I want.”

Oliver narrowed his eyes for a moment before shrugging, “Fair enough.”

Tommy took a sip of his coffee before continuing, “Okay.  What’s the first thing you felt when you woke up?”

“What are you, a shrink?” Oliver countered.

Tommy huffed, “I can go.”

He moved to slide out of his seat and Oliver grabbed his arm, “Fine. Fine! Sit down.”

Tommy smiled and reclined back in his seat, “Feelings, go.”

Oliver took a deep breath, “I don’t know. Shocked?  I’ve never had such a vivid dream.  I mean, I honestly thought I was there with her.  I could smell things, I could feel her.  It was beyond confusing to wake up alone in my bed after that.”

Tommy nodded, “Okay. Besides shocked, did you feel repulsed or maybe nauseous?”

Oliver looked at his friend exasperated, “Why would I feel that way about her?”

“So you think she’s pretty?”

Oliver took a deep breath, “Tommy.  You are not helping me.  Of course Felicity is pretty, she’s beautiful in that whole ‘I don’t have to try at all and I’m better than your favs’ kind of way.  It’s not about her looks, I just.. I woke up feeling guilty.”

“Because you had a dream about not your girlfriend?”

Oliver looked down at his coffee and sighed, “Yeah.”

Tommy carefully sat his spoon down from stirring his coffee.  He felt that he had an opening, but it was a small one.

“Do you think you like Felicity, even just a tiny bit?”

“Yes, I mean, no.  No.  I definitely liked her in my dream.  But it was just a dream.  I love Brooke.”

“Okay, but how can you say that you love her when you’re having very domestic fantasies about Felicity?”

Oliver put his coffee cup down, “Not fantasies, Tommy.  It was just one dream.  I shouldn’t have said anything.  Brooke is my girlfriend.  Felicity is my friend.  That’s all there is to it.”

Tommy shook his head, “Man, if you think that’s all there is to it, then you’re in for a rude awakening my friend.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Tommy stood up and threw a few bills on the table.  He looked at his friend and sighed heavily, “I’m telling you that Brooke is wonderful.  She’s beauty and brains and charisma and any guy would be out of their mind lucky to have a real shot with her.”

“Why am I sensing a ‘but’ in this speech?”

Tommy shrugged, backing away from the table, “Because there is one, but it’s one you just have to figure out on your own.”

Oliver sat there awhile after Tommy left, going over what they had talked about.  Oliver had never in his life lied to Tommy Merlyn.  They didn’t keep secrets.  But in that diner, he had looked Tommy in the eye and lied to him.  Oliver woke up earlier that morning, but it wasn’t shock he felt and it wasn’t guilt, though both of those emotions were probably floating somewhere in his subconscious.  The only thing he could focus on was the overwhelming feeling of longing.  The moment he woke up, he missed her.  And he didn’t know how to deal with that.

 

Turns out, Oliver dealt with it by simply ignoring her, when he was awake at least.  He wouldn’t always dream of her, but when he did, it was always the same.  He wasn’t sure where he was at first and slowly she would come into view and it was like he could finally see after being in the dark.  And every time he would wake up with a pit in his chest.  For a while every morning he would simply feel empty. 

He did his best to avoid her without being obvious.  He spent more time with Brooke, doing work from his laptop.  When he was at the bar, he spent his time holed up in his office.  He had seen her pass by his door a few times, always hesitating, as if debating whether or not to come in.  He was thankful and disappointed every time she kept walking.  The truth was that he missed her.  Somehow, this IT girl from Las Vegas had become one of his best friends and his continual avoidance of her only made him miss her more.

Roughly three weeks after his first dream he made plans to get out of town for a while.  He and Brooke decided to take the plane and head to New York for the week.  Brooke had a show and asked him to tag along.  He was more than willing to get away, he needed a clear head and being so close to his problem every day wasn’t helping.

He was in his office packing up some paperwork when he heard a small knock on the frosted glass of his office door.

“Come in.” He called out, not looking up from his bag.

“Hey.”

His head shot up at the sound of Felicity’s voice.  He gave a tight smile to cover his shock and returned her greeting, “Hey.”

“Can I come in and talk for a second?”

He nodded, “Of course, you know you don’t have to ask to talk to me.”

She shook her head, “Yeah, I know.  It’s just you’ve been kind of distant lately and I didn’t know if it was directed towards me or maybe you’ve just had a busy few weeks.  So, I didn’t want to bother you.”

He looked at her a second, suddenly feeling ashamed by his behavior.  She was light and honest and kind and had done nothing to deserve his cold shoulder.  It was his problem to work through, not hers.

He motioned for her to take a seat.  When she did, he said, “Look, I know I’ve been distant.  I’ve just had a lot going on for the past few weeks, but I’m sorry I’ve been taking that out on you.  Your friendship is very important to me and I’ve been taking that for granted.  If you came in here because you’re worrying about us, please don’t.  We’re fine.”

She let out a breath and smiled, “That is good to know.  And I was worried about that.  But I actually came in here because Tommy and you weren’t answering your phones and I needed to talk to one of you.”

“Oh.” Oliver was only slightly disappointed that she wasn’t as affected by their distance the past few weeks as he was apparently, “What’s up?”

She smiled and pulled out two tickets.

“What are those to?”

“They’re tickets to Bonnaroo.  I’ve always wanted to go to a big music festival and I finally have the money to go this year.” She gushed.

Oliver grinned, her happiness rubbing off on him, “That’s great!  But, I, uh.. I’m not sure it would be appropriate to go on a trip like that together.”

Felicity’s eyes widened, “Oh! No, Oliver.  I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for it to seem like I was inviting you.  I know you wouldn’t want to go, I was just asking if I could have this week off is all.  That’s why I needed to find you or Tommy..”

Backtracking, Oliver replied, “Oh of course you were!  I was just messing with you.  You deserve whatever vacation you want, take it!”

Felicity squealed, something she didn’t even know she did, “Thank you thank you thank you! You have no idea how much this means to me. Ahhhh, I could just kiss you right now!”

 

“Please don’t.”

Felicity and Oliver’s heads snap to the door where Brooke was standing, holding her luggage.  Felicity quickly stood up and faced Brooke.

“Oh wow, talk about unfortunate timing.  I wasn’t hitting on him.  That’s just like, the last thing I would do.  No, nope.  Just excited that he gave me next week off to go to Bonnaroo with Barry.”

Brooke smiled at the blonde in front of her.  She was naturally beautiful.  She would bet that she wasn’t even wearing makeup, maybe just mascara.  She was youthful in a way that Brooke had lost a long time ago, despite being close to the same age.  She wanted to hate the woman got monopolized so much of Oliver’s time.  She wanted to, but she couldn’t.  She was simply too endearing.

“I went last year with some friends, you’ll absolutely love it.” Brooke smiled and sat her luggage down, “Ollie, we’re going to be late if you don’t get a move on it.”

Oliver stood up and grabbed his things, “I know, I’m coming.” He turned to Felicity and continued, “Who’s Barry?”

“Oh, uh, my boyfriend I guess.  It’s still really new.  He’s sweet.  You’d like him.”

Oliver crossed his arms, “Well how did you meet him?  What does he doing for a living?  Why are you going on a road trip with someone you barely know?”

Felicity laughed, “I appreciate your brotherly concern but Tommy already cleared him.  He’s a CSI for the police station.  I met him through Laurel.  Tommy, Laurel, Barry and I have been on multiple double dates and I promise I’ll be fine.” She walked past him and patted his shoulder, “Thanks for looking out for me, though.  You two have fun on your trip.”

She walked out of the office, leaving Brooke and Oliver behind. 

Brooke watched him gather the rest of his things.  She watched as he battled to keep whatever was going on in his brain to himself and off of his face.  He wasn’t very good at that.  Brooke knew she was walking on thin ice with Oliver.  She couldn’t help but feel that their relationship had an expiration date and that it was coming sooner rather than later.  They had been together for close to a year and she couldn’t imagine not being with him.  He was funny and sweet and caring.  He was everything she wanted in a partner, except for maybe the fact that she was pretty certain he was half in love with someone else.  Something neither of them seemed to realize yet.  She just hoped he got over his crush before Felicity opened her eyes.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about how bromantically angsty this chapter ended up being.

“Tommy freaking Merlyn!”  Oliver called up towards the stairs at the Merlyn mansion.

Tommy walked out on the overlook and grinned, “Hey bud, I didn’t think you’d be back from New York until tomorrow?  Why haven’t you been texting me back?”

Oliver shrugged his coat off and tossed it on a chair in the parlor before making his way into the sitting room.  Tommy bounded down the stairs and followed him, “Seriously, what’s up with you?”

Oliver grabbed a scotch glass and poured himself a drink, “Is there a reason you kept Felicity’s new boyfriend a secret from me?”

Tommy winced, “Ahh, yeah.  I just didn’t think it was my place to tell her business.  I figured she’d tell you when she wanted you to know.”

“That’s not how this works!” Oliver erupted, gesturing between the two of them, “Tommy, you’re my best friend.  Big news is news we share with each other!”

One of Tommy’s eyebrows raised, “Why is it big news, Ollie?  Have you stopped to think about why it’s big news to you?  Why does it feel like I betrayed you?  Why does Felicity being happy with a nice guy seem to bother you so fucking much?  Don’t take out the frustrations you have with yourself on me, man.”

“She’s one of my best friends and I just want her--”

“Grow up, Oliver!  You can’t say that she’s your best friend and you want her to be happy and have a little endnote that says ‘as long as she’s alone’.  I told you when we met her that she deserved better than you or me and that hasn’t changed, obviously.  You’re just as much the immature playboy today as you were a year ago and don’t try to deny it.”

"That's not true!  I'm not the same guy I used to be." Oliver was trying to control his emotions.

Tommy just shook his head, "Look at yourself, dude.  You have one girl but that's not enough is it?  Oliver Queen has to go after all of them."

Oliver looked at his friend, shocked.  He didn’t know that’s how Tommy felt.  What hurt worse was that everything Tommy said was true.  There would be no world where Oliver could claim to be good enough or smart enough or nice enough to be with Felicity.  And he loved Brooke.  He needed to do more than say it, he needed actions to prove it.

Oliver sat his drink down and walked passed Tommy without saying a word.

 

To say that things were icy between Tommy and Oliver would be an understatement and Felicity didn’t know what to do.  On one hand, she wanted to ask them what happened and get them to talk through it.  On the other hand, they had been friends their whole lives, and she wasn’t sure it was her place to come between their problems.

She walked past Tommy’s office on her way down stairs and noticed him twirling his phone in his hand, as if unsure of the call he wanted to make.

“Tommy?”

He looked up, surprised to see her there, “Hey blondie, what can I do for you?”

She looked over her shoulder and down the hall.  Oliver’s door was closed.  She quickly walked in and shut the door.

“What the hell is going on between you two?”  She whispered, taking a seat.

Tommy shrugged, “We got in an argument.  He’ll get over it.  Everything I said was true.”

“What did you say?”  She questioned him.

Tommy thought for a moment about what he could share that wouldn’t get him in trouble.  He answered, “I told him he was still the childish guy he was a year ago and that he needed to grow up.”

Felicity was silent for a moment, thinking, before answering, “You don’t think he’s grown up at all in the past year?”

“Not really.  Not in ways that count.”

“Well, that’s stupid.  Especially for someone who knows him like you do, Tommy.”

He sits up a little straighter in his chair, “What is that supposed to mean?”

She shrugged, “Exactly what it sounds like.  That’s a stupid thing to say to him when it’s not true.  You know him better than almost anybody.  Can you honestly say he’s the same guy he was a year ago?  I’ve only known him for a year and even I can see how much he’s grown.  He takes this company so much more seriously than he did in the beginning.  He’s responsible with his family commitments, even when he doesn’t want a thing to do with them.  He proves his parents wrong everyday by getting up and coming to work.  He’s a good man and it’s not fair for you to put him down like that when he’s making such an effort to grow.”

She takes a deep breath and sits back in her chair, satisfied with her speech.

Tommy is silent for a few moments before responding, “You have feelings for him, don't you?”

“Yes.”  She responded with no hesitation, “I mean, no.  No.  I mean, I used to have a little crush on him.  Look at him, he’s Oliver Queen.  But once I got to know him, really know him, I could see how important Brooke was to him and how well we work as friends and then I met Barry.  So, no.  I have very platonic feelings for him, but that’s the extent of them.”

Tommy’s eyes narrow and he can blatantly see that there is much more than platonic feelings between his two friends.  He decides to let it go, for now, “Okay.  So, I was too hard on him, huh?”

She nodded.

“And I should apologize?”

She nodded again.

“Damn it, Felicity.  I’m wrong so very seldom that I forgot the feeling.  I don’t like it.”

She smiled, “Everyone is wrong sometimes, today is your day.”

She got up and headed for the door.  Before leaving, he called out, “Felicity?”

She turned around, “Yeah?”

“I’m pretty sure I’ve loved Laurel since I was sixteen.  She didn’t see me the way I wanted her to then.  She loved Oliver and that was okay.  I was just happy to be one of her best friends.”

“What’s your point, Tommy?” Felicity asked, uncomfortable with where this was headed.

“My point is that she was worth the wait, that’s all.  Sometimes you find the right person but it’s not the right time yet.”

They looked at each other for a moment before she nodded and left his office.

 

Tommy sat there a few more minutes, going over everything Felicity had said to him.  He had been hard on Oliver earlier.  But Oliver needed a wakeup call.  He couldn’t pine over Felicity and try to make his relationship work with Brooke.  It wasn’t fair to either woman.  With that thought, he got up and headed towards Oliver’s office.

 

He knocked on the door and waited for an answer.  When nothing happened, he opened the door.  Oliver wasn’t in his office.  Tommy walked over to his window to see if he was down in the club.  He wasn’t there either.  He goes to leave, but notices a piece of paper with his name on it on Oliver’s desk.  He picked it up and it read:

_Tommy, as much as it hurt to hear, you were right about me.  I’m no better than I was a year ago.  All I do is talk.  I don’t make my parents proud.  I haven’t made you proud either.  I’m going to change that.  I’m going to be the man I know I can be.  Brooke is in Milan for fashion week.  I’m going to go.  I’m going to ask her to marry me._

_-O_

Tommy crumples up the paper, “Well, shit.”

 

 

Tommy full out ran from the office towards to stairs.  As he passes Felicity’s office she calls out to him.

“Tommy?”

Tommy cursed under his breath and grabs her door frame to stop himself.  He takes and deep breath and turns to her with a big smile on his face, “Yep? Yes, I mean, what’s up?”

She eyes him with confusion, “Why are you running down the hall?”

“I, um.. I forgot that I had a bracelet engraved for Laurel that I need to go get.”

She smiles, “Aww, hey, I’m done here, why don’t I come with and we can grab some food?”

“NO!” Hey yelled with eyes widen in panic, “I mean, no.  I have to stop by and speak with my father first and I wouldn’t do that to you.  I’ll be back later this afternoon.”

She laughs at his erratic behavior and just shakes her head, “Okay, werido.”

He smiled and continued his run to his car, calling Oliver.  It goes to voicemail, “Shit… Oliver pick up the damn phone!”

His Range Rover peels out of the parking lot and towards the Queen’s private landing strip.  He calls Laurel.

“Hello?”

“Laurel!  Oliver is going to Milan to ask Brooke to marry him and I can’t get up with him and he can’t do that because he loves Felicity he just doesn’t want to admit it and Felicity won’t admit it either and I’m going as fast as I can but you’re way closer to the mansion!!” Tommy was out of breath.

“Tommy, slow down!  Just tell me what I need to do.”

Tommy turns his blinker on and switches lanes, “I don’t know, I just know he can’t ask Brooke to marry him.”

“Don’t kill yourself driving over there, I’m leaving the house now, I’ll talk to him!”  She grabbed her keys and left her house.

 

 

She pulled in to the parking by their air field roughly ten minutes later.  Getting out of the car, she sees him walking towards his plane, “Oliver!”

He turned to find Laurel Lance running in heels towards him.  Color him confused, “Laurel?  What are you doing here?”

“You can’t get on the plane!” She yelled over the sound of the engines starting.

He shook his head and yelled in return, “What are you talking about?”

She paused for a moment and threw her hands up, “I don’t know!  Tommy is on his way and needs to talk to you, but I couldn’t make out everything that he was saying.  Can you just wait a little while and talk with him before you go?”

Oliver looked up at the sky.  There was a storm moving in.  It wasn’t supposed to be bad, but he wasn’t crazy about flying in them.  After a moment of deliberation he answered, “I’ll give him ten minutes, then I have to go.”

She nodded and he yelled as much to the pilot before heading over to where their cars were parked.

 

Tommy pulled in five minutes later and jumped out of car, leaving it running, “Cell phones are used to take calls, Oliver!”

Oliver shrugged, “I turned it off and threw it in my bag, it was dying so I was trying to make it last until I landed.”

“You can’t go, man.”

Oliver shook his head, “No. you were right.  All I do is talk, but I haven’t done anything to show that I’m better, that I’ve grown.  What better way of showing it than asking the girl I love to marry me?”

“Oliver, you’re 22!  You don’t have to get married to show you’re growing up!  Jesus, don’t shave for a few weeks.  Get a dog.  Vote.  Not marry the girl you’re with right now.”  Tommy pleaded with him.

“Damn it, Tommy.  Stop belittling my feelings for Brooke.  She’s amazing and I would be an idiot to not be with her.  Nothing you can say is going to stop me from getting on this damn plane and flying to Italy. Nothing!”  Oliver had gone from reassuring to angry and Tommy knew this conversation was useless.

“Fine.  Go.  Ruin your life, see if I give a shit.”  He left Oliver staying there as he got back in his car and sped away.

He looked at Laurel, expecting her to put in her two cents but she just hugged him, “Have a safe flight, Ollie.  Let someone know when you land, okay?”

He squeezed her for a second before releasing her, “Thanks, Laurel.”

She nodded and got in her car.

He shook his head and headed back towards his plane.  He had a long flight ahead of him.  He was flying towards his future.  He could see himself happy with Brooke years from now, a few kids.  A house on both sides of the continent.  It would be a nice future.

There was only a flash of panic that crossed his mind at the idea of his next fifty years being filled with 'nice'.


	7. Chapter 7

**OLIVER QUEEN: MISSING AFTER PLANE VANISHES OVER ATLANTIC OCEAN**

That was the headline for the first week.

**OLIVER QUEEN: PRESUMED DEAD AFTER DEBRIS FOUND IN ATLANTIC OCEAN**

That one hurt a little more.

**OLIVER QUEEN MEMORIAL SERVICE PLANS IN PLACE**

That one got her.

No matter how many times she read the words, they wouldn’t sink in.  There was no way.  Something like this just didn’t happen.  He was her best friend.  He was gone.  It had been three weeks since she got the phone call from Laurel.  It took her twenty minutes to get across town and she didn’t leave Laurel and Tommy’s apartment for three days.  Tommy shut the club down until further notice and they did nothing but watch the news and harass Moira or Robert for anything new.  Nothing new came.

Today is Oliver’s funeral.  That isn’t a sentence Felicity every dreamed of thinking, but here it was.  She had woken up and put her black dress on, not bothering with jewelry or makeup.  She drove to Tommy’s and sat with Laurel as he finished putting his suit on.

“Tommy, we’re going to be late if we don’t leave soon.”  Laurel said softly.

Her words brought a memory to Felicity’s mind.

* * *

 

_“Fel-ic-ity!” He said her name like a song, “We’re going to be late if we don’t leave soon!”_

_She huffed and walked down the stairs, “You can make as many appointments as you want for me, I’m not going.”_

_“Felicity, it’s just the dentist!” he huffed._

_Her eyes widened, “That’s what they want you to think!  Have you seen all their instruments?  Hmm?  Torture, Oliver.  That’s what the dentist is and I should sue you for looking at my mail!”_

_Oliver laughed and grabbed her rain coat, “It was a postcard in the middle of all my mail.  I don’t think you have much of a case.  Don’t act surprised by my concern when it said you’ve missed the last six appointments.”_

_He holds her coat open for her and she sighs, letting him help her into it.  She pulls her ponytail out from under the material and groans, “Please.  Please don’t do this to me.  What have I ever done to deserve this?”_

_She couldn’t see him because he was behind her but she imagines he rolled his eyes._

_“Come on, Smoak.”  He nudges her towards the door._

_She looks back at him as she feels the first rain drop hit her, “I hate you.”_

_He grins and pulls her hood over her eyes, “Please, you couldn’t hate me if you tried.”_

_He didn’t know how true that statement was._

* * *

 

“Felicity?”  She looked up at Tommy who was watching her with concern.

“Sorry, what did you say?”

He smiled softly, “I said that I’m ready and that I want you to sit in the front with family if you’re comfortable with that.  Thea has already called to make sure you were coming.  I think Oliver would’ve wanted that.”

She took a shaky breath and nodded.  He held out both hands for the two women sitting on the couch.  One, the love of his life.  The other, the sister he never had.  It was at this moment that he realized that the two people in the room with him were the only two people he had left in the world that he would do anything for.

 

As if the universe decided Felicity’s life needed a little irony, somehow she ended up sitting next to Brooke.  Flawless Brooke.  You could tell that she had been crying but she even pulled off devastated effortlessly.  When she sits down, Brooke turns to her, “Despite the circumstances, it’s nice to see you again.”

Felicity took a deep breath and nodded, “How are you doing?”

“Honestly?  I’m just trying to get through today.  No one has said anything, but everyone knows he was coming to see me.  If he hadn’t, he would still be here. “

Felicity put an arm around Brooke and she rested her head on her shoulder for a moment, “Don’t do that to yourself.  Oliver was headstrong and spontaneous.  You didn’t even know he was coming.  In no way, shape, or form was this your fault.”

She sat back up and smoothed her dress out, “Thank you, Felicity.  I know that we’ve never been especially close, but you meant the world to Oliver.  I can see why.”

 

 

By the time the funeral was over, Felicity was barely holding herself together.  She was about to ask Tommy to drive her home when John Diggle, Oliver’s body guard approached her.

“Hey.” She smiled politely at him.

“Miss Smoak, you looked like you needed something.  I’m sorry if I’m overstepping a line, but can I help you with anything?”

Felicity was touched the affection in his voice.  Many times they had been around each other, but rarely did they talk, “I was actually just going to find Tommy and see if he would run me home.  I don’t think I can stay any longer.”

“I was just leaving, I can take you home.”  He offered.

“That would be great, thank you, Mr. Diggle.”

 

She said goodbye to Tommy and Laurel.  She passed by Moira Queen who stood a little straighter upon seeing her, but nodded her way.  She returned the gesture and made her way to his car.

He moved to open the backseat door when she smiled and said, “You aren’t my driver and you aren’t on the clock.  Mind if I sit in the front?”

He shook his head, “Of course you can.”

 

They rode in silence for a while before he spoke up, “You know, Oliver really thought you were something special.  I’ve been his body guard for quite a few years.  I’ve seen a lot of women come in and out of his life and I’ve never seen him value anyone the way he valued your friendship.”

A few tears escaped her eyes and rolled down her cheeks.

He looked over at her, “Oh.  God, I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to make you cry.  I just didn’t know if he ever got the chance to tell you himself how important you were to him.”

She reached over and squeezed his hand, “Thank you.  He was an amazing guy.”

John nodded, “You’d be correct.  Not many people would take part of their vacation to fly to Vegas because they didn’t like the way that guy spoke to you.”

Felicity’s eyes widened, “He did not?!”

“Remember when he came back from Tree Hill with a black eye and busted lip?” he asked, “I wouldn’t have brought it up, because he asked me not to.  But, now that he’s gone, I just thought you’d want to know the depth of his affection for and loyalty to you.”

Felicity sat there in a stunned silence.  She remembered that day.  She was so hungover she didn’t even really question him.  She just told him he was too old to act like that.  She guessed she could add that to the list of things she shouldn’t have said to him.  It wasn’t nearly as long as the list of things she should have.

“Thank you, John.”

He pulled up to her apartment and turned to look at her, “You need anything, and I mean anything, don’t hesitate to call.  I watched that kid grow up, he would want me to look after you.”

She leaned back in her chair and looked up at the ceiling of the car, “You know, everyone keeps saying what Oliver would want.  And I’m sure he would want all of those things.  This may sound crazy seeing as we just left his funeral, but we have no proof he’s dead.  I’m not ready to talk about him in the past tense.  I’m just not.”

John nodded, “It’s okay to have hope, Felicity.  It’s always okay to hope.  But, you need to prepare yourself that… things didn’t go Oliver’s way.”

“I know. I know.  Thank you for the ride and for everything else.”

She leaned over and gave him a quick hug before getting out of the car and heading inside.  


 

She found Barry sitting on her sofa when she walked in.  She had been so strong in front of everyone all day, she was tired of being strong.

He got up and closed the distance between the two of them, “Come here.”

She collapses and the sobs come hard.  Barry sits down on the floor with her and holds her, rubbing her back until the crying stops.  He realized that the only reason the crying stopped was because she had cried herself to sleep.

He kisses the top of her forehead and scoops her up in his arms, carrying her to her bed.  After tucking her in he took a seat in the chair by her window, where he stayed in case she needed him.

 

Felicity woke the next morning with the worst headache of her life.  She sat up to find Barry asleep on her chair.  She smiled sadly at the sweet man across the room from her.  She got up quietly and made coffee for the both of them.

Hearing her in the kitchen wakes him from his light sleep.  He stretches and makes his way to her counter, “Morning.”

She looks up at him and smiles shyly, “Good morning.  I, uh… I’m sorry about last night.  It was just an extremely long day.”

He nodded and took the outstretched cup from her hand.  He sat there in silence for a few moments before saying, “You loved him.”

She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply.  She answered him even though he didn’t ask a question, “I did.”

He sat there quietly for a couple of minutes before getting up to put his shoes on.

“Where are you going?”  She questioned.

“I’ve got work today.  I’ll come by after and we can rent a movie or go get some food.”

She walked him out, “You’re not mad?”

He took her hand in his, “We’ve been dating for two months.  I don’t get the right to be jealous over a guy that you loved that died.  I just don’t.  You take as long as you need to get over him.  As long as you want me around, I’m not going anywhere.”

He leans down and kisses her cheek before walking away.  She goes back into her apartment and heads straight for her bed.  This was a stay in pajamas kind of day.  She had never said out loud her feelings for Oliver.  They were a ridiculous fantasy, but knowing that it was just a dream didn’t make it hurt any less.


	8. Chapter 8

_The first thing Felicity heard was tapping.  She knew she was in her bedroom, crying.  Which, under the circumstances, wasn’t out of the ordinary.  But the tapping was._

_“Felicity?  Hey, look at me.  Stop crying, I’m right out here.”_

_She looked up and through the tears, saw Oliver on her fire escape.  He lifted his hand in a shy wave, and mouthed, "Hey."  She ran over and opened the window.  He climbed in and immediately pulled her in for a hug._

_“Oliver, what are you doing here?  How did you get here?” She pulled away from him, “This can’t be real.”_

_“Why can’t it be?  Is it really so far fetched that I would come for you?” He asked, a smile teasing his face._

_She hesitated a moment before answering, “Yes, because you and me, that’s just… it's unthinkable.”_

_He frowned, “I think about it.”_

_She shook her head, “No.  This isn’t real.  You aren’t real.”_

_“Can’t I just be here with you for a while?” He questioned, using his thumbs to wipe her tears away._

_She put her hands on his face, “Where are you, Oliver?  Think.”_

_He placed his hands over hers, “I don’t know.  Here, with you, I guess.  It’s cold.  Is it cold to you?”_

_“No, it’s not cold here, it’s actually kind of warmer than usual.  It’s cold where you are, isn’t it?  Are you on land somewhere?  Are you in the water?_

_Oliver smiled, “I don’t know that either.”_

_She looks into his eyes, “Oliver, you aren’t making any sense.”_

_“Dance with me, Felicity.  Before I have to go.”_

_She had no clue what he meant or why or how he was here, “Where are you going?”_

_He took the hands he was holding and moved them from his face to his shoulders.  Ignoring her question, he said, “Ever since I saw you in that pink dress all those months ago, all I’ve wanted is to dance with you.  I’m glad to finally have the chance.”_

_Despite wanting answers, she leaned into his embrace, “Oliver?”_

_“Hmm?”_

_“How am I feeling your heartbeat if you aren't really here?”_

_He kissed her forehead for a moment before answering, “I don’t know, Felicity.  It’s your dream.  You tell me.”_

* * *

 

 

Felicity sat up straight in her bed, scanning the room for the man she knows won’t be there.  It had felt so real.  He was in her arms.  She felt him.  She had lost him again.

 

Laurel found her two days later in her dark bedroom on her laptop.

“Knock, knock.” She said, leaning on her door frame, “I waited a while but you didn’t answer.  I came all the way over here so I figured it’d be a waste to leave.”

Felicity looked up for a second before continuing her work, “Yeah, make yourself comfortable.  I’m just a little busy right now.  What’s up?”

“I came to check on you.  Tommy and I haven’t heard from you since the funeral.  That’s a record.”

She shrugged, “Like I said, I’ve been busy.  Don’t worry about me.  I’ll be at work when he opens it up again tomorrow.”

Laurel came in and sat down on the end of her bed, “Felicity, we’re not worried about you being at work on time, just you in general.  I don’t mean to sound like a bitch, but when was the last time you showered or ate?”

Felicity lifted her hands from her keyboard and looked down for a moment.  Yep, still the same pajamas from two mornings ago.

“I’ll take a shower when I’m done here.  And yes, I’ve eaten.”

“Ice cream?”

She shrugged, “Vitamin D is good for you.”

Laurel sighed and got up.  She moved behind Felicity and lifted her from her chair, “Hey!  What the hell are you doing?!  I’m working on something!”

“Well, something will be there after you’ve showered and eaten an actual meal.  I’ll make one while you bathe.  And I’m not taking no for an answer.”

“Look, stop!  Okay, he doesn’t have the time for me to relax!”  She yelled before realizing how crazy it sounded.

Laurel tipped her head to the side in confusion, “Who doesn’t?”

Felicity took a deep breath.  She needed to share this with someone, “Okay, this is going to sound crazy, but I need you to hear me out.” she said.

Laurel nodded, “I’m not opposed to crazy.  Let’s hear it.”

Felicity nodded and took a deep breath, “I think Oliver is still alive.  I just have this gut feeling.  I know that they looked for him and I know what the officials said.  But they didn’t look everywhere.  They didn’t do absolutely everything they could.  They didn’t find the rest of the plane, so they assume that it deteriorated in the crash, taking Oliver and his pilot down with it.  The pilot only sent out one distress signal from inside the plane.  Maybe they just didn’t have time for another one.  What if they jumped?  What if they landed it and it sunk?  What if he’s on an island somewhere?  What if he hit his head and has amnesia and doesn’t know that he’s missing?  I think we didn’t do enough to look for him before we slapped a grave stone over an empty casket.  That’s what I’ve been doing here.  Looking.”

Laurel sat there for a few moments, looking at her heartbroken friend before answering carefully, “Felicity, what you’re going through right now, it’s normal.  Denial is something that everyone faces in their own ways.”

“I’m not crazy, Laurel!  And I’m not going through stages of grief!  I told you it sounded like a stretch, but I can’t just do nothing.  If he is dead, then I’ll have spent a few days of my life wasting away on a computer, which isn’t out of the ordinary.  But…but, if he’s alive, if he’s out there and alone and scared, maybe even hurt and I did nothing.  I wouldn’t be able to live with myself, okay.”

A tear fell from Laurel’s cheek and she wiped it away quickly.  She’s never met someone as determined and strong as the woman standing in front of her.  She couldn't imagine losing Tommy the way Felicity had lost Oliver.  With that thought she nodded and said, “Okay.  Okay, here’s my offer.  You take a shower and eat a solid meal every day and I won’t bother you about looking for him.  If anyone could find him, it’d be you.”

Felicity looked towards the bathroom.  She could stand a shower and some fresh clothes.  She sighed, “Deal.”

 

 

The next month went slowly for Felicity.  She would wake up and go to work.  She hacked into a few satellites, enabling her laptop to run scans over large areas.  They were running for anything out of the ordinary in the water as well as on registered population free landmasses.  She knew she could be arrested for her actions, but it was virtually impossible for someone to make it through the codes she laid out.  She wasn’t worried about getting caught by the government, just by Tommy.  She didn’t want him to worry or to get his hopes up.

As the days went by, Felicity began to lose hope that anything would turn up.  She refused to turn off the scanners though.  She didn’t care how crazy it seemed, she knew the dream was more than a dream.  He was out there and he needed her help.  No one but Laurel knew about her theories and she was thankful that she wasn’t the type to get too nosy. 

Tommy had asked her multiple times if she was really okay.  She understood his worry, she had lost weight and the bags under her eyes were designer, but she would throw a smile on her face and tell him everything was alright.  Despite not believing her, he let it go.  Everyone mourned their own way and who was he to tell her how to be sad.

 

It was a Tuesday night when everything changed.  She was eating dinner with Barry when her phone went off.  She looked down and her breath caught in her throat.  The satellite had detected abnormalities on an island far off the coast of Italy.  It was such a small landmass that the satellite barely registered it, but there was a change from a previous scan to this one and it was worth checking out.  She put her phone away and continued her dinner, she couldn’t think of an excuse that wouldn’t give her away.

They rode back to her apartment in a comfortable silence before Barry spoke up, “You wanna tell me what’s going on?”

She looked over at him, surprised, “What do you mean?”

“We were having a nice dinner and then something comes up on your phone and relaxed Felicity is nowhere to be found.  You’re jumpy and anxious and you ate faster than I’ve ever seen.  So, I’ll ask again, what’s going on?  And please don’t lie to me, it insults my intelligence.”

Felicity shook her head, internally cursing herself for being such a bad liar.  She sighed and answered, “I’ve been doing some research and something turned up.  It could be nothing, but it also could be something.  So I was just anxious to get to my computers is all.”

“Research on what?”

She thought out her words carefully, “Land masses off of the coast of Italy.”

He pulled the car over and looked at her, “You’re looking for him, aren’t you?”

“I’m sorry.  I can’t explain it.  I just have this feeling that he's still out there somewhere.  I just need to be sure, I need to do everything in my power before I give up.  I know the odds are one in a billion, but I can’t give up without at least trying.  He deserves that much.”

Barry looks at her for a few moments, gathering his thoughts.  After a little deliberation he faces forward and starts his car. 

“What are you doing?”

He shrugged, “You need to get to your computers, I’m taking you home.”

She looked at him, shocked, “You believe me?”

“Do I believe he’s alive?  No.  I honestly don’t.  But if there is anyone on this earth capable of proving me wrong, it’s you.  So let’s go.  Prove me wrong.”

She bit her lip and tried to keep tears from spilling.  She didn’t realize how much she needed someone else to know, someone to tell, “Thank you, Barry.”

He just nodded.

 

“Felicity, as someone who is employed by the Police Department, I’m not sure I’m comfortable with knowing exactly how you managed to pull up this satellite feed.”

She gave him a nervous smile, “They won’t even know I’m using it.  It’ll be fine…Probably.”

He shook his head and laughed, sitting down next to her, “I hope so too.  I’ve been thinking a lot since you told me everything in the car and there is a massive hole in your plan.”

“I’m aware.”

He huffed, “Okay.  Well, how do you plan on working around it?”

She shrugged, “One step at a time, Barry.  I just want to confirm something is there before I involve anyone else.”

“Right, but assuming he is out there, you have to have a way to get to him, you need someone to rescue him, you need money for a plane, or a helicopter, I doubt this place has a runway.”

“I know! Okay, I know.  And I’ve been thinking about it.  I can’t tell Tommy or the Queen’s my theory.  If I’m wrong they’ll be crushed all over again.”

“Yeah, but if you’re right, they’ll get their son and best friend back.”

She was quiet for a moment, looking at the maps, “Someone is on this island, Barry.  I can feel it.”

“Well then that settles it.  We’re going.”

She looked up at him in confusion, “Someone needs to go, but we have no resources, no experience in a jungle.  How the hell are we going to get there?”

The moment she asked the question, she had the answer, “Damn it.”

“What?” he questioned.

“I know who we need.”


	9. Chapter 9

“Miss Davis, you have an unscheduled visitor.  She said you would let her up anyway.”

Brooke shook her head in disbelief at the people who think she has all the time in the world, “And who is this confident visitor?”

“A Miss Felicity Smoak.  She ensured me it was important.”

Brooke’s forehead creased in confusion, what in the world was Felicity doing across the country at her office.  One way to find out, “Let her up.”

 

“I know it sounds crazy!”

Brooke rolled her eyes, “You’re damn right it sounds crazy, because it is crazy, Felicity!”

They had been in her office for the last half an hour going back and forth.  Brooke wanted desperately to believe her but she couldn’t give herself that hope, only for it to be taken away again.

“Just look at the maps again, Brooke.  They don’t lie!”  Felicity pleaded.

“I’ve looked at them and I get what they’re saying, but you’re talking about months of living on an island, an island we know nothing about.  It’s Oliver.  Someone who’s never even been camping, who has said and I quote, ‘Why would I voluntarily live like a homeless person’.  There’s just no way.”

“He’s strong enough to make it, Brooke.  He could be out there.”

Brooke threw her hands up, “God Felicity, do you hear yourself?  You're delusional!  He’s not coming back!”

Felicity’s jaw clenched in anger, “If you really loved him, even the slightest chance would be worth any risk.”

They stood there in a stare down for what felt like an eternity before Brooke answered her, “Don’t you dare question my feelings for him.  You don’t know me.  You don’t know what I’ve been through.  You don’t know how hard it was for me to open up to someone.”  Her voice cracked as she added, “And you sure as hell don’t know what it was like to be in love with someone who was in love with someone else.”

Felicity looked down and shook her head, “No, you're wrong.  He loved you.”

Brooke sighed and took the maps from Felicity again, “I know he tried to.”

After a few more minutes looking over the papers in silence Brooke spoke again, “We won’t be able to land a plane there.  We’ll fly to the south of France and then take a helicopter the rest of the way.”

Felicity’s eyes widen, “Really?”

Brooke shrugged, “If I really loved him, even the slightest chance would be worth any risk.”

 

Having Brooke on board lifted a weight off Felicity’s shoulders.  The only obstacle left to hurdle was that Brooke, Felicity and Barry weren’t exactly jungle ready, or ready for anything that wasn’t air conditioned or paved.  But Felicity had an answer for that as well and she would deal with it first thing in the morning.

Felicity rarely slept through the night these days.  She kept praying for another dream like the one from last month.  She knew it was silly, that it was her mind creating an illusion of him.  At this point, an illusion of him was better than nothing at all.

* * *

 

_The dream began before she even realized she was falling asleep.  Much like the first one, she found Oliver on her fire escape.  It was different than the first one in that he wasn’t trying to get her attention.  He looked content to just stay out in the cold, comfortable just being near her.  She threw on her robe and climbed out the window._

_“You shouldn’t be out here.  You’ll catch a cold.”  He said, looking out over the city._

_She wrapped her robe tighter around her, battling the chill in the night air.  Shrugging, she answered, “You’re out here.  Where else would I be?  Why are you standing out in the cold?”_

_He looked up, “It’s not so cold now that I’m used to it.”  He dropped his head and looked back over at her, “Now that is something I’m not used to.”_

_“What?” she questioned._

_He smiled, “You.  I haven’t seen you in quite a while.  Too long.  You look breathtaking, you know that?”  He paused before adding, “God, I miss you.”_

_Somewhere deep in her subconscious she knew this wasn’t real, that she was putting words into his mouth.  It didn’t change the fact that she was desperate to hear them._

_“I miss you too.  I want you to know that I’m coming for you.  I’m going to save you.”_

_He tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and leaned in to kiss her cheek, “If anyone can save me, it’s you.”_

* * *

As fast as it had begun, the dream was over and she was shaking in her bed.  She sat up and looked around, again for the man that she was missing.

 

The answer to her final problem was on the other side of the door.  She braced herself and knocked.

John Diggle swung the door open and masked his surprise with ease, “Miss Smoak.  What do I owe this visit?”

“Please, call me Felicity.  And I’m here because I need your help.”

He leaned over and grabbed his coat from the rack by the door, “Okay.”

Felicity smiled, “I didn’t even tell you what I needed.”

He shrugged, “I told you if you needed anything, you can count on me.  Whatever it is, I’m in.”

“It’s dangerous.”

“Cool.”

“We could get in trouble.”

“Awesome.”

“We could die!”

“Let’s go.”

She smiled and took his outstretched arm.

 

The flight went by faster than she had expected. They used the time in the air to come up with a plan.  Barry decided to stay in France because the helicopter they rented only seated four.  Once on the ground, Brooke would stay with it on the beach in case Oliver heard it.  Brooke told them that if anyone would die trying to navigate a forest, it would be her.  That left Felicity and John would head inland in search for him.

 

Before she got in the helicopter, Barry pulled her to the side.

“Before you go, I just wanted to say that I think you are the strongest person I know.  And if he’s there and he’s okay, all of this pain you’ve had to endure will be worth it.  If he’s not, you won’t have to deal with it alone.”

She held his hands to her chest, “Why are you so understanding?

He smiled, “I’ve loved someone who didn't feel the same way before.  It was horrible and hard and painful, but I moved on.  I can help you do that, too.”

He cupped the side of her face and kissed her sweetly.  He pulled back and said, “You are special, Felicity Smoak.  Whatever happens with Oliver, I want you to know that.”

She smiled and kissed him again, “I’ll be back soon.”

“I’m counting on it.”

 

After seeing three snakes and seven spiders, Felicity couldn’t hold her tongue any longer, “As far as plans go, this is not a good one.”

John smiled and looked back, “Felicity, this was your plan.”

She jumped at the sound of a twig breaking before realizing that she was the one who stepped on it.  She huffed, “Yeah well, I didn’t actually think you’d say yes.”

They walked on in silence for a few more minutes before Felicity gasped.

“Oh god, is that a grave?!”  Felicity grabbed John’s shoulder and pointed to the ground a few feet away.  There were a few stones piled together and a makeshift cross tied together with a piece of cloth.”

“I didn’t know if he was religious or not so I just figured it was better to be safe than sorry.”

Felicity and John spun towards the source of the voice and he continued, “He broke both legs when we landed and didn’t last very long after that.”

She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.  She’d spent almost two months looking for him and there he was, seemingly unharmed, standing before her, “Oliver?”

“Felicity.”  Her name left his lips like a prayer.

She closed the distance between them before he could process what was happening.  She threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly.

“I can’t believe you’re really here.” She said, her words muffled against his neck.

He was still for a moment, too shocked to move.  She began to pull back and his body caught up to his brain.  His arms encircled her and lifted her, hugging her tightly, “Yeah.”  His head burrowed in between her neck and shoulder as tears began forming in his eyes.

He stood like that for a while, holding her tightly, afraid that if he let go she'd disappear. Reluctantly, he sat her back on the ground and she pulled back, barely, wiping the tears from his cheeks, “Are you okay?”

He gave her a small smile, “I am now.” He wiped her free falling tears away as well, “I never thought I’d see you again.”

Felicity inhaled sharply at his words.  She knows he meant he’s just happy to see someone, not specifically her.  She smiled and pulled him in for another hug, “Yeah well, you aren’t that lucky.  You can add personal tracker of Oliver Queen to my job title.  You were not easy to find, my friend.”

He smiled at her words and looked over to where John was standing.  He released Felicity and walked over to him.

Diggle held out a hand and Oliver took it, “Thank you.”

John shrugged, “It’s a part of the job title, man.  Plus, I couldn’t let her go out into a jungle by herself, because she would have.”

He looked between the two of them and took a deep breath, “You have no clue how good it is to speak and have someone respond.”

“Talking to yourself isn’t that bad, I do it all the time.”  Felicity commented, making Oliver laugh.  It was the best sound Felicity had ever heard.

“How did you two get here?”

Diggle responded, “You have a girlfriend waiting on the beach for you.”

Oliver looked over at Felicity, “You brought Brooke?”

“Well she is the woman you love, I assumed you’d want to see her.  And you know, she had the money for transportation.”

John didn’t miss the pained expression that crossed his face when she said that Brooke was the one he loved.

She started walking, “We better get back, we’re wasting daylight.  Plus, Barry is waiting back with the plane.  I don’t want him to worry more than he has to.”

They fall in step and Oliver comments, “So you’re still with Barry.  That’s cool.”

John snaps his walking stick in half and throws it down in frustration.  Both Oliver and Felicity look back at him in confusion.

“The uh…the center was hollow I guess.  Don’t look at me, keep walking.”  They turn back around and he mock chokes Oliver for being such an idiot.  He had a moment.  They had embraced.  They both had cried.  And he ended their reunion by saying that it was ‘cool’ that Barry was still around.  If it wasn’t John’s job to protect Oliver, he’d like to hit him upside the head.

 

Brooke sees Oliver before he sees her.  With the way the sun was setting behind her, he needed to get much closer in order for her to be in view.  Brooke would have to be blind to not see the way his eyes never left Felicity.  She would occasionally look back at him, say something and laugh and his whole face would light up.  As much as she had tried to prepare herself for what being alone with his thoughts for so long had done, it still hurt to see the clarity in his eyes that he didn't have before the accident.  A clarity that didn’t end with a happily ever after for herself.

Pushing that down for now, for a better time, she chose to just be grateful he was alive.  The other stuff could wait.

“Oliver!” she called out as she made her way down the beach to meet them.

His eyes met her and he grinned, “You’re a sight for sore eyes, Davis.”

She reached them and he pulled her into a tight hug.

Felicity and Diggle looked at each other for a moment and both nodded towards the plane.  Felicity spoke up, “We’ll give you guys a minute.”

She and Diggle made their way back towards the plane and it didn’t escape Brooke’s attention that Oliver watched them walk away for a little longer than necessary.

He looked down and smiled again, “Thank you for finding me.”

“It was actually Felicity.  I didn’t believe you could possibly be alive after so long.  No offense.  She never doubted that you wouldn’t be.”  She sighed.

He looked towards the plane again and then back down to her, “I uh… being out here by myself for so long gave me a lot to think about.”

“Oliver,” she cupped his cheek and he shut his eyes, “let’s not do this right now.  We found you.  We have to figure out a way to get you back without getting Felicity in trouble.  We’ve got a lot to deal with right now.  So you’re going to hold my hand so I can be sure you’re really here and alive and we’re going to get in that helicopter.  We can talk later.”

He looked down at her and smiled softly.  Nodding, he grabbed her hand and kissed her knuckles, “Come on, let’s go home.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for all the love! I know I've been posting almost everyday, but this will be my last post for a few days. I want to go ahead and map out the rest of the story before I post any more chapters. I hope you enjoy!

The downside of not involving Tommy in their plan was that it left them without a private landing strip.  They had a private plane, thanks to Brooke, but they we forced to use the Starling City airport to land.  In order to draw as little attention to himself as he could, he put on a dark green hoodie that John had brought and sunglasses.  Brooke took the main exit, arm and arm with Felicity, John following a few steps back.  A couple of paparazzi snapped a few photos of them, but nothing major.  Oliver and Barry headed out of the back exit, hailing a cab with the plan to meet up in a few blocks.

Once they were in the cab Barry let out the breath he’d been holding, “Man, that could have gone so terribly wrong.  Good luck seems to be following you around.”

Oliver looked at him for a second before Barry added, “I mean, not the whole stranded on an island thing, but the not dying on it part, obviously.”

Oliver pressed his lips together and nodded before looking out the window.

“Are you always this quiet or do you just not like me?  I’m sensing a mixture.”  Barry continued.

Oliver sighed and turned back towards him, “I don’t dislike you.  I just haven’t spoken to anyone in over two months, I’m a little rusty at polite chit chat.  You’ll have to excuse me.”

“Right, right.  My bad.  I’ll stop talking now.”  Barry turned back towards the window, looking out into the rainy traffic.

Oliver hesitated for a moment before adding, “However, I will say I’m glad Felicity has had you these last few months.  I didn’t get a chance to really get to know you before the accident, but I hope now that I’m back we’ll have that opportunity.  You seem to make her very happy.”

Barry looked at the hairy, dirty man beside him.  He really wanted to hate him.  He was rich and spoiled and the object of his girlfriend’s obsession for the last two months.  But damn, he just survived two months on a deserted island and was thanking him for being with the girl he very obviously had a thing for.  How could you fault that?

He held out his hand and Oliver took it, “I’m glad you’re back.  She hasn’t been quite herself since you left.”

Some form unspoken respect passed between the two of them at that moment.  The moment passed as Barry’s phone rang.

“Speak of the devil, it’s her.” He answered, “Hey, you three make it out okay?”

“Yep, we’re in the car.  Can you give the phone to Oliver for a second?  It’s kind of up to him where we go next.”

“Of course.”  He handed the phone to Oliver, “It’s for you.”

Oliver takes the phone and puts it to his ear, “Yes?”

“The mansion and your family first?  Or, Tommy who is most likely at the club wondering why the hell I haven’t been to work in the last three days.”

“You didn’t tell Tommy you were coming for me?” Oliver asked, surprised she was able to keep such a big secret.

Felicity winced, “He doesn’t even know I was looking for you.  I didn’t want to get his hopes up if I was wrong.”

“Oh, Felicity... He’s not going to be happy with you.”  He countered.

“Yes, I am aware, thank you.  I’m just hoping he’ll be so focused on the fact his best friend is alive again that he’ll get over it.”

He sighed, “Well, here’s to hoping.  The bar it is.”

 

They pulled around to the back of Verdant.  The five of them piled out of the two cars and made their way through the back into the kitchen.  Oliver turned back to them and held up a hand.

“Um… I think Felicity and I need to go in there alone.”

The three of them nodded in agreement.

“We’ll be down here when you’re ready for your next visit.  I’m sure the next one will end in a trip to the hospital so enjoy this one.” Brooke said and then added, “Moira will want a full checkup I’m sure.”

Oliver rolled his eyes, “God, I hadn’t even thought about that.”

 

They headed up the stairs and Felicity turned to him, surprised at how close behind her he was.  She rested her hand on his chest to stop him from continuing, “I’ll go in first.  You don’t want to give him a heart attack by just walking in.”

He put his hands over hers, "Hey, no matter what happens in there, he'll get over it.  I'm right here."

She nodded and he released her.  She moved to knock on his door.

“Who is it?” he called back.

“Felicity.”

Tommy’s eyes went to his door, “Come in.  You know you don’t need permission.”

She opens the door and stands awkwardly, rubbing her hands together.

He shook his head, “Well look who the cat dragged in.  I’m gonna have to find a new security specialist if you’re not careful.  No work in three days without even telling me why.  That’s unacceptable, Felicity Smoak.”

“I’m so sorry.”

He’s eyes went soft and he stood up and walked around the table to stand in front of her, “Hey, I was just joking.  What’s the matter?  Hey, no, don’t cry, I’m sorry!  Take as many days as you want.”

She laughed and wiped her eyes, “I’m not crying because of your cheesy attempts at reprimanding me.”

He smiled, “Ouch.  Well, what’s wrong?”

She shook her head, “You know how I’ve been kind of distracted the last few months.  I know you’ve noticed."  She paused, taking a deep breath, "Well, I haven’t been just grieving my own way or closing myself off.  I’ve actually been pretty busy.”

He tilted his head in confusion.

She continued, “I just had this gut feeling and I wanted to do everything I could to follow it, but at the same time, I didn’t want to get your hopes up and then they turn out to be wrong.

“Felicity, what on earth are you talking about?”

“I found Oliver.” She blurted out, unable to think of another way to say it.

He stepped back from her, “That’s not a funny joke, Felicity.”

“It’s not a joke.  I hacked into government satellites used by the military and located every land mass, reef, sand bar within proximity to where his plane could have gone down and narrowed those down to locations with no populations and then went from there.  I found him.”

Tommy rubbed his hand over his growing stubble and paced his office a few times, “Okay.  Okay, I believe you, but how do we know he’s okay?  How soon can we get there?  How are you going to explain away your unauthorized use of government property?  And why on God's green earth would you ever think you couldn't tell me something like this?  I'm your best friend, I could've been helping you!”

She looked down, “I know that you're mad about me keeping it from you, but I have a feeling you may be more mad at me after I tell you what I'm about to tell you, which is that I already flew across the world and got him.”

“What in the hell are you talking about, Felicity?!”

Oliver rounded the corner, unable to listen to Felicity’s failing attempt at explaining things.  Tommy’s face turned white and his eyes widened in shock.

“Hey Tom.”

Tommy looked back at Felicity and then at Oliver again.

“You…You’re… How…Oliver!” he grinned and practically tackled his friend.

Oliver laughed, “It’s good to see you too, bud.”

He pulled back, putting both hands on his shoulders, “Ollie, I am so sorry for the things I said to you before you left.  If I had just been more understanding…You would’ve left earlier if I hadn’t held you up, trying to talk you down from proposing.  That’s not what best friends do.  I should’ve just supported you instead of being an ass.”

Oliver’s eyes widened and willed Tommy to stop talking.  Tommy looked at him, confused by the face Oliver was making before it clicked.  Tommy shut his eyes for a moment, mentally cursing himself and then glanced over at Felicity.  He wished he hadn’t.

She was staring at the two of them, her face completely unreadable.

Oliver turned to her, “I…uh…”

She interrupted him, “You were going to propose.  To Brooke.  That’s why you were flying to Italy.  To propose.  Marriage.  That’s…that’s just great.”  He nodded, smiling, “That you get another chance.  Speaking of Brooke, I need to go and find her to decide how to get you home.  Continue your reunion up here and meet us when you’re ready back in the kitchen.”

She walked out and Oliver turned back to Tommy who had covered his face in his hands, “That’s on me, man.  That one is my bad.  Some things we share with Lis, some things we don’t.  That was definitely a don’t.”

“Especially since I’m not proposing to her anymore.”

Tommy winced, “So I just made things a lot more complicated, huh?”

“Yep.”

He sighed, "I guess this means I'm not allowed to be mad at her either?"

"Nope."

Tommy was quiet for a few seconds before he added, “I don’t mean to add insult to injury, but you look like shit.  Your hair is just…woah.  Your beard looks like there might be living things growing in it and I just…I can’t handle looking at you like this.  Come on.”

“Where are we going?”

Tommy opened his office closet and threw him a black t shirt a pair of dark washed jeans, “Those will probably fit you.” He rifled through his stuff a little more and tossed him a toiletries kit.

“Why do you have all this in your closet?”

Tommy shrugged, “Do you know how many all nighters I’ve pulled here with you gone?”

“I’m sorry I left you hanging.”

Tommy opened the door to his bathroom, “It’s not like you did it on purpose.  Just do me a favor and throw that toothbrush away after you use it.”

Oliver laughed and closed the door.

 

Tommy went downstairs and met up with the others to let them know that Oliver was taking a few minutes to change and clean up before seeing his family.

When Oliver walked down the back stairs into the kitchen everyone did a double take.

“Holy shit.” Felicity and Brooke said at the same time and quickly looked at each other before looking back at him.

Oliver looked down and then back at them, “Sorry it took so long.  I was getting pissed trying to brush my hair out so I just decided to take the electric razor to my head as well as my face.”  He ran his hand through his shortly cropped hair and continued, “But I kind of liked the beard so I just trimmed it short.”

Barry broke the silence, “I know the island took away a lot from you, but you got to go through the ‘kind of a beard but kind of homeless looking’ stage of growing it out alone so it wasn’t a total loss.”

Oliver laughed and the tension left the room, “Let’s go to the mansion.”

 

Pulling up, Oliver took a deep breath.  He missed his family but he was exhausted from everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours.

Felicity, as if hearing his thoughts, patted his knee as she got out the car, “Last stop.  You can do this.  Just imagine your big ass bed upstairs waiting for you.”

He smiled, “That’s all the pep talk I needed.”

When they got to the door, she turned to the group, “Again, I think I should explain what I did before just throwing him back in there.”

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement and moved to get out of the doorway.  Oliver squeezed her shoulder, “Good luck talking to my mom again.”

“Shut up, Oliver.”

He chuckled and moved out of sight as well.

She took a deep breath and rang the doorbell.  It was a little after nine so she hoped they’d still be awake.  It was Raisa, their housekeeper, who answered the door.

“Miss Felicity?  What can I do for you?”

Felicity smiled at the kind woman, “I was actually hoping to speak with the entire Queen family if that is at all possible.”

“Come in.  Mr. Queen is on a business trip and Thea is out with friends.  I will go find Mrs. Queen.”

“Great.”  Felicity said with no emotion.

She stood awkwardly in the foyer for a few moments before Moira walked in.  Felicity was surprised to see the woman in pajamas.  She had always assumed she wore formal wear everywhere.

“Miss Smoak.  What can we do for you so late at night and unexpected?” Moira didn’t bother smiling.

Felicity sighed at the woman in front of her.  She wanted to like her, but she was close to losing hope that it would ever happen, “I need to talk… about Oliver.  It’s important.”

Moira’s eyes widened, “Oh god.  I knew this would happen one day.  I just never imagined Oliver wouldn’t be around to take responsibility.”  She stepped forward and put a reassuring hand on Felicity’s shoulder, “Tell me, Felicity, how far along are you?  Did he know before the accident?”

Felicity jumped back, “Oh my god, Moira, no!  I’m not pregnant!”

Moira stepped back as well, “Oh.  I’m terribly sorry.  I just assumed with how much time you two spent together and Oliver’s track record with women...”

Felicity took a deep breath and crossed her arms, “Let me tell you something, lady.  I don’t like you.  I don’t like your tone.  I don't like you're attitude.  I don’t like how you judge everyone you meet and how you treat everyone according to what they can do for you.  I am not some whore Oliver slept around with.  In case you missed it, he was in a committed relationship for the past year with an amazing woman.  He’s not the same teenager who couldn’t keep it in his pants, excuse the term.  He is a grown ass man who makes grown ass decisions.  He owns a thriving business.  He is supportive of his family commitments.  He’s a great big brother.  You are just so self-involved you can’t even see it!”

Moira just stared at the young blonde in a stunned silence, taking in her words.  She answered softly, “You talk about him like he could still come back.  No one does that anymore.”

Felicity huffed, “Yeah well, I came here to tell you that I found him and he’s alive and I had a lovely speech that included apologizing for how I spoke to you at the gala planned out but then you pissed me off again.  So just…never mind.  Here he is.”  She turned around and opened the door to find a grinning Oliver.

She poked his chest, “It’s.  Not.  Funny.”  And then she walked out, leaving him alone with his mother.

 

Oliver watched her walk out, amused at how easily she Moira got under her skin, and then slowly turn back to his mom.  He pointed behind him and said, “She gets a little worked up sometimes.  She’s usually very kind.”

Moira walked up to him and placed her hand on his cheek, “Oliver?”

He smiled softly, “Mom.”

She threw her arms around him in a tight embrace, “My beautiful boy.”

 

After convincing his mom that he really was fine and that he would go get a checkup in the morning and talking to his father and Thea on the phone, it took everything in Oliver to make it up the stairs to his room.  He used his house phone to call Felicity and tell her that he was down for the night and that his mother would like her to come for dinner tomorrow night as a thank you and to figure out a story to tell the press.  After she reluctantly agreed, he took a shower and climbed into bed.  Just before he turned the lights off, he heard a light knock at his door.

“Come in.”

Brooke peaked her head around the door, “I hope I didn’t wake you.  Raisa let me up.”

He patted the empty side of the bed.  She kicked off her shoes and crawled in.  He held out his arm and she laid her head on his chest.

“We need to talk, Oliver.”  She whispered.

He sighed, “Can't we just sleep?  I know we need to but I honestly can’t think of a thing in the world I would rather do than lay here and pass out.”

“Okay.  Go to sleep.  We’ll talk tomorrow.” She said and realized she didn’t need to.  He was already there.

 

She woke to him sitting in his window seat.  She looked over at his alarm clock, which read 4:48 a.m.  She sat up and stretched, “I thought you were tired.”

He looked over at her and shrugged, “I slept a little while.”

Brooke threw the covers back and sat down next to him.  She looked at him and questioned, “What’s going on up there?” gesturing to his head.

“I was just thinking about yesterday when Felicity and John found me.”

“What about it?”

“Why did you send Felicity out to look for me?”  He questioned, “You go hiking all the time.”

She looked out the window and answered, “Honestly?  After two months of being stranded on a deserted island, I knew she’d be the person you wanted to see,” she paused before adding, “because you love her.”

He shook his head, “Brooke, I never meant to--”

“Come on Oliver, I have eyes.  I see the way you look at her, how she looks at you.  After all that we’ve been through together, you can spare me the apologies.”

He places his head in his hands, propping them on his knees.  They sit in silence for a few minutes before she speaks up again.

“I can’t do this anymore, Oliver.  You and me.  There has always been three people in this relationship and I should’ve realized that long before you ever got on your plane.”

He squeezed his eyes shut and nodded his head, “I’m sorry.”

She leaned over and kissed his temple and got up to leave.  He grabbed her hand and she looked back at him.  He whispered, “I did love you.”

She patted the hand she held, “I know you did.  But loving someone and being in love with someone are two very different things.”

He watched her grab her shoes and leave his room and couldn’t help but be in awe.  She even did breaking up in style.  He knew she’d be just fine.  She was fiercely independent and one of the strongest women he’d ever known.  It would’ve been easy to love her for the rest of his life.  But she was right, he’d never be in love with her.  His whole heart had belonged to someone else for a very long time.  It just took being utterly alone for him to let himself realize it.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for your patience and for sticking with the story!

Felicity pulled up to the Queen Mansion a little after seven the next night, unsure of what to expect.  Oliver promised her that his mother would be well behaved and she wanted to believe him.  The truth was that something about Moira simply brought out the worst in Felicity and she feared that nothing would change that.  If Felicity was honest with herself, she knew it was because Moira reminded her of her own mother.  Not in an obvious way.  No one would look at the two women and think that they had anything in common.  But they did, in the ways that count.  In the ways that hurt.  Both women tended to look at their children and only see the failures, only see where they went wrong.  Neither of them took a moment to see all that their children had accomplished.  Felicity may not be able to work through those problems with her own mother, but she wanted desperately to shield Oliver from the similar pain she knew he felt, despite always pushing it away.  

She got out of her car and mentally shoved her mommy problems back into the neat little container she kept them in.  Taking a deep breath, she rang their doorbell.

Raisa answered with a smile on her face and ushered her in, “Twice in two days.  Such a treat.  Mr. Oliver is downstairs.”

“I thought we were downstairs?”  Felicity questioned.

Raisa just shook her head in amusement, “There is another floor below us.  Indoor pool, full gym, entertainment center.”

“Huh.  You learn something new every day.”  Felicity followed Raisa to the stairs.

“Dinner will be ready shortly”

Felicity nodded and headed down the flight of stairs.  She would call this a basement, but it was larger than her apartment…building.

She walked through the main room, where the pool was and a bar and didn’t see him.  She ended up hearing him before seeing him.  She heard grunts coming from behind a door across the room.  Part of her wanted to knock but the more dominant part decided to just open the door and let them both be surprised. 

Her mouth dropped open as she looked up.  He was on a salmon ladder, towards the top, wearing grey sweatpants and nothing else.  She was glad that she didn’t knock because she got to enjoy that view, for science of course, for a few seconds before he noticed her.

He looked down and grinned at her gaping expression and then dropped from the bars.  He stood up in front of her, “Hey.”

“Why’d you stop?... I mean, don’t let me interrupt your work out.”  She blushed and his smile spread even wider.

She took a deep breath and tried again, “Hey.  Raisa said dinner would be ready shortly.”

He nodded and grabbed his cell phone, “Laurel just text me and said she was almost done at the office and would be here soon.  It’s always nice to have a lawyer as a friend.  Got a new phone, by the way.  I almost thought I had lost all of those blackmail pictures and videos of you.”

Her eyes narrowed, “I thought you had already deleted those.”

“The cloud is a wonderful place, Felicity.”

“Phones should not be allowed after a whole bottle of wine is consumed.  You and Tommy set me up.”

Oliver laughed, “Karaoke isn’t karaoke if no one is filming you.”

She shook her head and smiled before looking back up at the ladder, “Taking out frustrations on anything in particular?”

He shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t really know what else to do.  All of the things around me feel…frivolous.  On the island I had me and the environment.  Instead of just lying down and giving up, I used the island itself to pass the time.  I ran a lot.  I’m sure I climbed every tree on that island at least twice. It just helped me keep a clear mind.”

She nodded, understanding, “If you ever want to talk about it, the not good stuff, you can talk to me.”

He shook his head, “There’s nothing to talk about.  It was bad, but I made it out.”

“Yeah, but somebody didn’t and you had to experience that, that couldn’t have been easy.” She countered.

“Felicity, I do not want to talk to you about it.  Drop it.”  He replied sternly.

She held up her hands, “Fine.  At least tell me about the scar.”  She gestured to his chest.

He mentally cursed himself for forgetting he was shirtless.  He had a raised scar going diagonally across the right side of his abdomen.

He let himself feel it for a moment, the tingling of the severed nerves and then he lied, “When my parachute landed, it took me through the trees, fast.  I hit a branch as I dropped and this happened.  Broke some ribs along with it.”

Before she could stop herself, she reached out and lightly ran her hands down the angry scar.  She whispered, “You almost died.”

He took her hand and moved up to his chest, “Do you feel that?”  His heart was racing and she nodded, “I didn’t.  I’m right here, because of you.”

She didn’t say anything, she just continued to stare at her hand, where she could feel his heart beating beneath it.

Oliver cleared his throat and she looked up at him.  He took a deep breath and said, “I want to talk to you about something.  It’s about Brooke.”

She pulled back her hand and held it up, “No, it’s fine.  You don’t have to explain anything to me.  I wish you had told me about wanting to propose to her, I was surprised.  But, I’m happy for you.  I can’t think of a better match.”

Oliver felt his heart drop.  He could.  He opened his mouth to tell her about the break up but Raisa interrupted.

“Mr. Oliver, Miss Felicity, dinner is ready.” She called out from the bottom of the stair case.

Felicity smiled up at him, “Dinner with your mother.  This should be interesting.”

Despite the obvious tension in the room, Oliver laughed and took her hand, “Come on, Smoak.  This is going to be a train wreck.”

“Could you at least try to be more positive?” She countered as they walked towards the stairs.

He stepped aside, gesturing for her go up first, “Fine.  I’m positive that this is going to be a train wreck.”

She glared back at him, but didn’t respond. 

 

Laurel joined them in the entry way of the home as Oliver ran upstairs to put some clothes on.

“I’ve been warned that this could be an entertaining dinner.” Laurel whispered to Felicity as they took their seats.  Oliver followed closely behind and took a seat next to her.  Felicity lifted her chin and chose not to respond.  Instead, she looked at Moira and smiled.

“Thank you for having me for dinner.  This could have been discussed over the phone.  I appreciate the invitation.” Felicity offered to Moira.

“Nonsense, Felicity.  You are always welcome here.” Moira replied with a genuine smile on her face.

Felicity looked at Oliver, sure that this was a joke.  She was being punkd.  She was sure of it.  Oliver just shrugged and took a sip of his drink.

Felicity nodded and answered, “Thank you, Mrs. Queen.”

“Now that we have you three here, let’s come up with a plausible story.  As much as I’m ready for the world to know that my boy is alive, we can’t have Felicity pay the price.” Moira stated to the room.

Thea cleared her throat and spoke, “What if we tell them that she’s psychic and knew she would find him and used her vision of her finding him to find him?”

Oliver chuckled, “Let’s keep brainstorming.  But I like where your mind’s at, Speedy.”

“We need something that is an easy enough concept for the press to believe without it looking like Felicity did anything shady.  If the press is anything, it’s capable of turning an innocent story into a bloodbath.”  Laurel said.

Felicity nodded and interjected, “I stayed up last night thinking about this and after five cups of coffee, I think I may have an idea.”

“Go on.”  Moira urged.

“What if I used his phone’s GPS to track him?”

Oliver shook his head, “But why would you wait two months before doing that?”

“And the police already did that when he first went missing.”  Thea added.

Felicity nodded, finishing her bite of salad before answering, “Right, but the police confirmed by the lack of signal and location that his phone was either off or destroyed.  What if I never turned off a tracker and then he turns his phone on, notifying me.”

They’re all silent for a moment, considering her idea.  Oliver counters, “I like it.  But why would I wait two months before turning my phone on?”

Laurel answers Oliver’s question, “You knew it was almost dead before the flight, which is true.  I was there, I remember you saying that you turned it off because it was dying.  So, you’re out there and you’re all alone.  Your only companion died.  You have no one.  And once you’ve hit rock bottom, you remember your phone was almost dead, but not quite.  Pictures and videos of your friends.  Voicemails.  Text messages.  You know your phone will die soon, but you just want one more look.  So you turn it back on.  There is your return story.”

They all sit in silence.  Felicity is the one who speaks up, “It’ll work.  I’m his IT specialist.  It makes all the sense in the world that I would have a GPS on his phone.  I know better than almost anyone how often he loses the damn thing.”

Moira smiled and raised her glass, “Well then, it's settled.  A toast to Felicity, who fictionally and literally saved my son.”

They rest of the people at the table raised their glasses as well.  Oliver reached over and squeezed Felicity’s hand as they repeated, “To Felicity.”

 

After dinner Oliver said goodnight and excused himself.  He was exhausted from all of the interaction that he had grown used to not having.  Thea had left immediately after dessert was served to make a party she had planned on going to and Laurel got called into her office.  That left Moira to walk Felicity out.

When they got to the foyer Moira did something that Felicity thought she would never do.  She hugged her.  Felicity remained stiff for a moment before returning the embrace.

Moira pulled back but kept her arms of Felicity’s shoulders and said, “I am very sorry that I underestimated you.  I didn’t value you’re intelligence or my son’s in choosing you.  He’s a lucky man to have you.  I will never be able to express my gratitude to you for saving him.”

Felicity had been sure before walking into the mansion that she would never like the Queen matriarch.  She had been wrong.

“Thank you.  I just did what I thought I should.  Oliver would have done the same for me.”

She patted her shoulders before letting her go and replied, “Oh honey.  Of that, I have no doubt.  Goodnight, Felicity.”

“Goodnight, Mrs. Queen.”

Once she was inside her car, she let out a deep breath and laid her head down on her steering wheel.  That had been stressful and a little confusing towards the end, but she was glad they had a solid story.  Maybe now she could finally move on from obsessing over him and get her life back.  That should’ve been a relieving though, but it was one that left her a bit breathless.

 

The next week went by in a blur for Oliver.  The media caught wind of his return and the press was in a craze, trying to get statements from and pictures of him.  Their story was a bit of a stretch but they bought it and that was all that Oliver cared about.  He just wanted his life back.  The only problem was that Oliver didn’t know what that life was anymore.  Of course he would continue with the club, he had made a commitment and would stick with it.  But all of the things Oliver had grown up with just seemed frivolous.  He didn’t enjoy his thousand count bed sheets or eggs benedict served by his personal chef.  He didn’t want a glass of $11,000 scotch in the sitting room of his family’s mansion.  He felt anxious being there.  He wanted to be more than a spoiled billionaire.  He had fought every day for his life and he wanted it to count. 

The first person to notice the change in him was his younger sister.  He was sitting on his balcony, overlooking his mother’s garden when she knocked on the side of the open door.

He looked back at her, “Hey.  What’s up?”

She crossed her arms and sat down beside him.  She took a slow breath before answering him, “I know it’s only been a week since you got back, but I’m worried about you.”

He eyed her curiously, “What do you mean?”

She shrugged, “I just think more happened to you on that island than you want to share.  You were by yourself for two months.  You aren’t exactly a mountain man, Oliver.  There has to be more to the story.”

He was quiet for a few moments, collecting his thoughts, before saying, “I was alone.  There aren’t really any stories to share, Thea.”

“Look, I know it must’ve been hell there.  But, it was hell here too.  Mom, Dad, me.  We all thought you were dead.  We got you back, but you’re so closed off it’s like you never came home.”  She put her hand on his shoulder and lowered her voice, “I’m not saying you have to talk to me, but you gotta let somebody in.”

He covered her hand with his, “I know.  I’m working on it.”

She nodded and laid her head on his shoulder, “I love you, Ollie.”

He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer, “I love you too, Speedy.”

 

 

Oliver’s first night back at the club generated enough revenue that they could close down for the amount of time he was away and still be profitable.  Everyone wanted a glimpse of the miracle man.

He and Tommy decided they’d get more publicity if he showed up through the front door after the party was in full swing.  Oliver wiped his hands on his pants as his limo pulled up.  He was certainly glad to be alive and back with the people he loved, but he wasn’t as crazy as being the talk of the town as he used to be. 

Oliver stepped out of the limo dressed in tan brogues and a navy suit.  He was glad he had chosen to leave the tie at home and leave the top two buttons undone on his shirt.  He was already hot and stressed to be back around so many people.

He was immediately bombarded with camera flashes and the loud voices of the individuals behind them.  Oliver smiled and waved towards the lights for a few moments before making his way to the door, where Tommy was waiting for him.

Tommy slapped him on the shoulder and shook him happily, “Just like riding a bike.”

He motioned to the DJ who then cut the music.  With his arm still around Oliver, he yelled, “Everybody!! Man of the hour!”

The crowd erupted but Oliver didn’t notice.  He spotted Felicity across the club talking with Laurel.  Before he could get her attention, Tommy was pulling him towards the stage.  Oliver sighed, knowing he had to say something.

He jumped up and grabbed the full shot glass from Tommy’s outstretched hand, “Thank you very much everybody!”  He threw on his biggest grin and lifted his drink.  He said the only thing he could think of that would get him off the stage.  Throwing back his shot, he yelled, “I missed tequila!”

The crowd erupted again and the music started up.  He hopped down off of the stage and looked around for Felicity but only finding Tommy.

Tommy grinned and handed him another drink, “Alright man.  You just came back from the dead.  You are freshly single and I have graciously decided to be your wingman tonight.”

Oliver shook his head and yelled over the music, “As tempting as that is, I can’t be with anyone right now.”  He face turned serious, “I need to be alone.”

Tommy rolled his eyes and was about to argue his logic when Felicity coughed, making them both turn around, “I didn’t mean to interrupt.  I just wanted to say congratulations on an extremely successful welcome back bash.”

Oliver wondered if she had heard what he told Tommy.  If she had, she didn’t show it.  He put his hand on her shoulder, “Thanks for coming.  I know you aren’t required to make appearances in your contract so I appreciate it.”

She laughed, “I occasionally make exceptions.  It’s not every day that one of your best friends comes back from the dead.”

He smiled, “You look breathtaking.”  He was blown away by the golden dress she was wearing.  She could being wearing a paper sack and he would still think she was the prettiest girl in the room, but it was a nice dress.  It was short but not too short.  The color of it made her big blue eyes stand out in contrast and he was sure in that moment that he would never look at another woman and see what he saw in Felicity. 

Her mind flashed back to her dream when he said the same words and she was sure they would always remain in her imagination.  She put on her best smile and said, “Why thank you, you clean up pretty well yourself, Mr. Queen.”

“Would you like to dance?  Before you go?”  He asked, the song transitioning into a slow one.

She looked out at all of the people dancing and then back to him, “You hate dancing.”

He shrugged his shoulders, “Maybe I just haven’t danced with the right person.”

The intensity of his gaze made Felicity’s cheeks blush.  If this was the new Oliver, she was going to have a problem.  That thought left her slightly breathless and suddenly very aware of the fact that she had an amazing boyfriend.

She took a step back and shook her head, “I would love to, but Barry is waiting outside for me.  I had just come over to say goodnight.”

He nodded, “Goodnight, Felicity.”

Her eyes met his one more time and she felt she could’ve melted right then and there.  He had never, ever looked at her like that before.  She told herself that he was just not used to seeing the people he cared about again.  That had to be it.

Tommy had watched their interaction with mixed emotions.  On one hand, they were both idiots that were meant to be together.  On the other hand, Felicity was with Barry.  He shrugged and decided to screw the second hand.

“Oliver fucking Queen.  You’re just going to let her walk away?  Looking like that?  To leave with Barry the man-child?  Come on, man.  That’s not the Ollie I know.”

Oliver squeezed his eyes shut for a moment before he turned to his friend, “I’m not that guy anymore.  I’m not going to mess with what she has with Barry.  I meant what I said when I told you I couldn’t be with anyone and that I needed to be on my own.  I just need some time to get over her.”

Tommy huffed, “You are such a coward.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me.  It’s loud in here, but not that loud.  You’re scared that you’ll put yourself out there and she’ll choose Barry.”  He leaned over and grabbed two more shots from one of the waiters, “But if you want to pretend that you’re being the bigger man, then so be it.  If I can’t be your wing man, I can at least get you drunk.”

Oliver knew that Tommy was right in a way.  It didn’t take a genius to see that he was protecting himself from the possibility of getting rejected.  But Tommy was also wrong.  He wasn’t just stepping back for that reason.  Oliver realized he loved Felicity the moment he jumped from that plane.  Her voice was the only sound he heard as he fell, her face the only thing he saw.  He was in love with his IT girl and nothing was going to change that.  Upon realizing that, he also realized that he loved her enough to step back and let her be happy with another man.  As long as she was in his life, that was good enough.

Oliver ended up enjoying the rest of his night, his mind only occasionally drifted to her.  He wondered if she was still in that dress or if she was wearing sweatpants and had ditched her contacts for her glasses by now.  He loved her glasses and how she always had to push them up while typing away on her computer.  He also kept wondering what had kept Felicity from asking him about Brooke.  He had tried to tell her before she heard it from someone else, but Laurel ended up beating him to it after his first failed attempted in his gym.  It had been a week and she hadn’t brought it up.  The only conclusion he could think of was that it was news that didn't really affect her.  With that thought in mind, he grabbed another shot.  The hangover would be hell tomorrow, but he stopped thinking about her for a moment, and that was worth the headache. 


	12. Chapter 12

The next month went by quietly for Oliver.  He spent most of his time either working at the club or working out.  Oliver made the decision to move into his own apartment roughly two weeks after his return.  It was smaller than those around him assumed he would choose.  Honestly, it was heaven for Oliver.  He loved the simplicity of it.  The only splurge he made with the place was turning the master bedroom into a training room.  He found himself using the space to take out his various frustrations.

He enlisted Diggle to help him train.  After weeks of being beaten down, he began to be able to hold his own against his ex-soldier body guard.

“You wanna tell me why you all of a sudden decided to train for American Ninja Warrior?”  John huffed, wiping a towel over his face.

Oliver laughed, doing the same and answered, “I’ve always been in okay shape.  But Dig, I survived those two months on that island by sheer luck, not my own capabilities.  I don’t ever want to feel that vulnerable again.”

John nodded, “I get that, man.  I know what war does to you.  You were at war, Oliver.  Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise.  You had to fight for your life every day.”  He paused before adding, “Just don’t let your need to be powerful cloud your ability to feel.  Trust me on that.”

“I sense a story there.”  Oliver returned.

He sighed, “Her name was Lyla.  She was my wife.”

Oliver sat down on the weight bench and asked, “What happened?”

“We got married overseas.  When we got back to the states, I just didn’t know how to leave the war behind.  Neither did she.” He shook his head, “She was incredible.  She slipped through my fingers and I just sat back and let it happen.”

Oliver swallowed hard, “I’m sorry, John.”

John patted his back as he passed him to grab his water bottle, “Don’t feel sorry for me. I’m alone because of my inability to let someone in.  I just don’t want to see that happen to you.”

“I’m doing fine, Dig.” Oliver stiffened, not wanting to have this conversation with yet another person.

“You’re a lot of things, but doing fine isn’t one of them.” he countered.

“Yeah well, another thing I am is done with this conversation.  I have to get to the club.” Oliver got up and headed towards his bathroom, “Take the day off.”

 

Oliver walked up the stairs of Verdant with a heavy heart.  He knew Diggle had a point.  As much as he wanted to protect himself physically, he wanted even more to protect himself emotionally.  But he was also quick to remind himself that keeping Felicity at arm’s length wasn’t just protecting himself, it was protecting her as well.  He was a mess.  Despite only being gone two months, he felt like he had been gone a life time.  The Oliver Queen that got in that plane was gone.  He had experienced things that he never wanted to share with anyone.  Things that were weighing him down, but he knew if he told anyone, they’d look at him differently.  He knew that because he looked at himself differently every time he saw a mirror.  He didn’t see the care free kid he was.  He only saw what the island had turned him into.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of muffled music coming from Felicity’s office.  He stopped outside of her door and leaned in to listen.  He couldn’t put his finger on it, but he had heard the song before.  The chords sent a shiver down his spine and he didn’t know why.  Knowing that this would bother him, he had to ask.

He knocked on her door and she called him in.

“Hey stranger.”  She said, smiling.

He returned her smiled and tapped his ear, “What is this?  It’s really good.”

She laughed, “Who knew Oliver Queen could be a softy.  It’s Sort Of by Ingrid Michaelson.”

Oliver’s breath catches in his throat.  The song from his first dream of her.  He realized he should probably say something.  He commented, “Not exactly the most cheerful music.”

She thought for a moment before answering, “It’s sad.  But then again, it’s not really to me.

“What do you mean?”

He sat down across from her and she continued, “Well, she knows that their relationship is complicated and kind of painful.  She feels that she is holding on to someone who won’t or can’t give her all of him.  And most of the song you’re sure that she’s going to let him go but then the facts are just the facts.  She loves him too much.”

“How is that not sad?  What if this guy never comes around?”

She shrugged her shoulders, “What if he does?”

He is quiet for a minute, taking in her words.  He thought about all of the things he could say that would change the subject and ended up doing just the opposite, “I’ve heard this song before.”

He was going to tell her about the dream.  Despite knowing it was the opposite of keeping her at arm’s length, he wanted her to know.  Just as he opened his mouth to tell her, she interrupted, “Of course you have.  Remember last January when we marathoned Grey’s Anatomy in your office for like three weeks when Tommy thought I was teaching you how to work the systems?”

Oliver smiled at the memory, “I mostly just remember watching you recite the lines to Grey’s Anatomy word for word for three weeks.”

She laughed, “Yeah well, you could have picked something else.”

“You and I both know I had no choice.”

She smirked, “You had the illusion of a choice, at least.”

They looked at each other for a moment, neither of them saying anything.  Felicity was the one to break the silence and their eye contact, “Anyway, her songs play in the back ground of the show a lot.  I’m sure that’s where you heard it.”

He nodded, “Mystery solved.”

“Did you need anything else from me?”

He stood and looked down.  She’d never know just how much he really did need from her, “Nope, that was it.  I’ll leave you to it.”

She watched him walk out of her office.  That had to have been the strangest conversation the two of them had ever shared, but she wasn’t complaining.  He hadn’t talked to her much in the last month.  She didn’t blame him, he had a lot to juggle with coming back to work and living on his own, not to mention going through a break up.  She didn’t want to bother him or bring up something that would cause him pain so she kept her distance and her questions to herself despite how much she wanted to be there for him.  Still, she missed him.  Despite the lengths she went to get him back, sometimes she felt like he never really came home.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of him yelling.  Concerned, she got up and followed his stream of cursing down the back stairs into the kitchen.  She instantly wished she had stayed in her office.  Shirtless Oliver made her feel like she needed to go to Confession… and she was Jewish.

“Oliver?”

A very shirtless and angry Oliver looked over his shoulder while standing at the sink.  He responded, “Sorry, I just spilled hot coffee all over my damn shirt and I don’t have another one here.”  He grabbed the edge of the sink and dropped his head, “There is no way this stain is coming out.  This will be the fourth shirt I’ve thrown away this week.”

She walked towards him, “What do you mean?”

He shook his head, but didn’t look back at her, “I don’t know how to do laundry.  My clothes just always appeared back in my room, clean and folded.”

A laugh escaped her lips and she tried hard to keep her face straight.

He looked over his shoulder and smiled despite himself, “It’s not funny.  It’s pathetic.  I’m a twenty-two year old man who is scared of a washing machine.”

She shook her head and moved to stand beside him, facing the sink.  She nudged him with her hip and said, “Scoot over.  Let me help.”

He obliged and moved a few steps to the right, giving her just enough space to work. 

After a few minutes, she held the shirt up in victory, “There you go, good as new.  Though, there isn’t a dryer here so you’ll have to just wait for it to dry.”  Her eyes lingered on his torso a bit longer than appropriate before looking back at him.

He took the shirt from her and smiled, answering, “Thank you.”

She flicked her wet hand, causing drops of water to hit his face and laughed, “You are welcome.”

“Oh.  You want to play that game?”  His eyes turned mischievous.

Her eyes widened in panic, “I was just kidding!”

“Nope it’s too late.”  He stuck his hand in the sudsy water and flung water all over her.

“Oliver!”  She just looked at him, shocked to be covered in water.  Just as he was about to apologize, she grabbed the sink sprayer and turned on the water.

He held up both hands, “Hey.  Calm down.  You don't have to shoot.  I’m just one man, you have a whole life to live.  I’m not worth it.”

She smirked, “I’ll take my chances.” And squeezed the trigger.

Oliver tried to duck but ended up covered in water anyway.  He grabbed a cup and stuck it in the water, then launched the contents at her.

She squealed and moved to spray him closer but slipped on the soapy ground, landing on her bottom.  Oliver immediately stopped his assault and bent down, “Hey, are you okay?”

She threw her head back and started laughing.  She laughed so hard tears started to form in her eyes.  Oliver couldn’t help but laugh along with her, her joy instantly rubbing off on him.  He held out his hands and pulled her up.

They both stood there, standing across from each other.  The laughing had slowly stopped and they were left breathing heavily, soaking wet, just looking at each other. 

Felicity wasn’t sure who moved first but it didn’t matter.  What mattered was that they were both moving.  Their lips connected first, their bodies following closely behind.  Her hands found his face and then wrapped around his neck while his roamed her waist and pulled her closer.  Their wet bodies molding to each other in the kitchenette of an empty club.  Oliver pulled at the soaked sweater she was wearing over her tank top as he backed her up against the wall.  She pulled it off her arms and threw it down next to them, quickly returning her hands to his body.  All the pent up tension he usually took out on a punching bag he was channeling into kissing her. 

She’d like to think she would’ve stopped it before they had gone any farther on her own.  But she would always have to wonder, because it was Tommy who brought them to their senses.

“Guys!  Is anyone here?”  He called from upstairs, “I brought lunch!”

Felicity pulled back and they stared at each other for a moment, each panting, their breaths intertwining, before Oliver bent down and handed her the discarded sweater.

“We’re in the kitchen.”  He called out, never taking his eyes off her.

He backed away, leaving her to lean against the wall for support.  She had heard of a knees going weak kind of kiss but never really believed them, until now.

Tommy bounded down the stair and stopped in his tracks at the sight before him, “What the hell happened down here?  Did a pipe bust?”  He looked down at all the water on the ground and on his friends.

“No, we got into a bit of a water fight.  No one was injured though.”  Oliver smiled, throwing a towel down over the mess and using his foot to start wiping it up, “I spilt coffee on my shirt and Felicity showed me how to get a stain out, which is apparently something you can do instead of throwing the shirt away.”

Tommy laughed, “Good to know she’s showing you a few things.”

Oliver’s eyes met hers and she snapped out of the state of shock she had been in.  She spoke up, “Yep.  He’s hopeless.  Almost hopeless, anyway.  I’m going to run home and change.  I’ll be back later.”

She went to pass Tommy and he grabbed her elbow, “Hey, before you go, I just got off the phone with Laurel and she wants to have dinner with you and Barry tomorrow night.  There’s a new place she’s been dying to try.  Does that work for you?”

Felicity looked past Tommy and met Oliver’s unreadable expression, willing him to give her some type of reaction.  He just bent back down to get the rest of the water.  She shook out her stretched and wet sweater, throwing it over her arm and nodded, “That works for me.”

 

After Felicity left, Tommy swung around, “You want to tell me the truth?”

“What you’re talking about?”  He countered.

“Don’t start with that shit, I walked right in here through the back door.  You two were just so caught up in each other you didn’t even notice.  I was going to say something but then that kiss! Oh man.”  He put his hand on his chest, “If it was half as good for you as it was for me, I’m just saying--”

“Tommy, shut up!”

He continued, “So I watched for only like thirty seconds don’t worry, and then I went upstairs and called for you two.  I half expected you to pretend you didn’t hear me.”

Oliver sat down on a barstool and rubbed his face with both hands, “I don’t know what I’m doing, Tommy.”

Tommy’s face turned serious and he sat next to him, “You love her, man.  She loves you.  What more is there to know?”

Oliver scoffed, “She doesn’t love me.”

“How can you say that after what just happened?”  Tommy asked, exasperated.

Oliver hit his hands down on the metal table, “I don’t know what that was, but she wouldn’t be with Barry if she did!  When I realized my feelings for her, when I really understood them, it was over for me and Brooke.  I couldn’t be with someone when I was in love with someone else.  If she felt anything close to how I feel, there’s no way she’d still be with him.”

He slid the stool back and threw his still wet shirt on over his head and then continued, “And you know what, you can add another two seats at whatever restaurant you’re making reservations for.”

“Who are you going to bring?” Tommy questioned him.

Oliver shrugged, backing towards the door, “I’m Oliver Queen.  I’ll have a date.”

Tommy sat quietly in the kitchen after Oliver left, thinking over everything that had just happened.  Tommy had started out very serious about Oliver not becoming involved with their new IT girl because she was sweet and he’d end up hurting her.  Looking back now he can see that he’d had it wrong all along.  Felicity was sweet, but it was Oliver who ended up getting hurt.


	13. Chapter 13

Laurel hated domestic cases.  She didn’t become a lawyer to help people divide their belongings.  She wanted to make a difference.  She wanted to be a provider of justice.  And yet, here she was, working on another divorce case.  Just as she opened the file to start sorting through things, her phone rang.

“Oh thank God.”  She muttered before answering, “Hello?”

“Babe.  We have a problem.”

She sighed and said, “It better be important enough to drag me from the extremely vital case I’m working on.”

Tommy chuckled, “Oh. You’re gonna want to sit down.”

“I’m already sitting down, Tommy.”

“Right.”  He said and then continued, “You need to call the restaurant back and add two seats.  Oliver is coming and bringing a date.”

Laurel was silent a moment, trying to think of anyone he could possibly be seeing.  Coming up blank, she answered, “I didn’t realize he was seeing anyone.  I thought he was doing the whole ‘I’m not with Felicity so I’ll just be alone’ thing.”

“This is the part that I wanted you seated for.  And I think I’ve decided that we shouldn’t get in the middle of it.  I love them both and their stupidity is going to ruin everything.”

Laurel interrupted him, “The point, Tommy.”

“Oh, yeah.”  He replied, “I walked in on Felicity and Oliver making out and they didn’t see me so I left and then made my presence known before entering again.  They acted like it didn’t happen and then Felicity agreed to go to dinner with us and Barry.  Then, she left and Oliver said that she couldn’t love him and never would and then got all high school Ollie and said he could get a date if he wanted one and now he’s coming and I don’t know how Felicity feels about it.”

As if on cue, Felicity busted through Laurel’s office door without so much as knocking, “I need the room!”

Laurel took a moment to appreciate the timing before she answered Tommy.

“I’m going to have to call you back.”  She said and then hung up. 

She gestured around her room before answering, “Felicity, no one is here for me to excuse.”

“Right, yeah.  I just always wanted to say that.”  She paced the width of the room before adding, “I think I’m having a panic attack.”

Laurel got up and shut her door before taking Felicity by the shoulders and guiding her to a chair, “You aren’t having a panic attack.  Trust me.  What’s going on?”

Felicity covered her face and said words, Laurel was sure of it.  She leaned closer and said, “One more time.  I can’t hear you through your hands, dummy.”

Felicity slowly lowered her hands and repeated, “I kissed Oliver.”

“What!?”  Laurel exclaimed as if it were her first time hearing it, “You did what?  When did that happen?”

“There was water and laughing and then I don’t know what happened.  He just looked at me and I looked at him and then BOOM making out.”

Laurel sat down and tapped her pen on her desk a few times, just watching Felicity.  She finally spoke, “How was it?”

Felicity huffed, “Not the point here, Laurel!  I kissed someone who is most definitely not my boyfriend!”

“Yeah, but it’s Oliver.”

“What does that even mean?”

Laurel shrugged, “He’s always going to be in the picture.  You might as well admit it.”

Felicity shook her head, “He’s not in the picture.  Maybe a daydream or two, but nothing I ever thought would happen.”

“Well something just happened, and it definitely wasn’t a daydream.”

She covered her eyes with the palms of her hands, “I’m not in the stage of a relationship where you can kiss other people, Laurel.  It doesn’t matter why it happened, just that it can’t happen again.”

Laurel folded her arms, “If he’s never been in the picture, why did you kiss him?”

She dropped her hands and looked down at them for a long time.  Reluctantly, she looked up at Laurel and said, “Because I’ve never been in his picture.  I’ve always been the friend.  The helper.  Jesus, the first time I ever met him, I helped him send flowers to his girlfriend.  But that’s always been enough, just being his friend.  I was happy that way.  I met Barry, who is unbelievably wonderful and I was happy.”

“So what changed that?”

“He died!”  She exclaimed, “He died, Laurel.  And he never knew how much I cared for him, how much deeper it ran than friendship.  And then, suddenly he’s back and he still can’t know because how awful would that be?  ‘Hey, I’ve always been half in love with you, just thought you should know.’  It doesn’t change anything.  I’m still just the friend.”

Laurel shook her head, “But that doesn’t make sense.  Why are you so sure you’re just the friend?  I mean, he kissed you.  Just friends don’t do that.”

Felicity shrugged and looked out the window, “I don’t know what that was.  It was a heat of the moment kind of thing.  I mean, he acted like it didn’t affect him in the slightest afterwards.  If he really felt anything for me, he would’ve said something by now.  Yes, I’m dating Barry, but we’re not married.  I’m not anyone’s property.”

Laurel sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, “I think there is a lot more to you and Oliver than you and Oliver want to admit to.  However, what I’m about to say is going to make my previous sentence sound hypocritical.  Oliver is coming to dinner tomorrow night and he’s bringing a date.”

Felicity bit her lip and nodded, “See, like I said, friends.  It didn’t mean anything for him, and it was just a lapse in judgement on my part.”

She stood and headed towards the door, but Laurel called after her.

“Felicity, I really think you should just talk to him.”

She didn’t look back, “There’s nothing to talk about.”

 

 

 

 

The woman taking a seat across from Felicity could only be described at flawless.  How Oliver had managed to find her in the last twenty-four hours was a mystery and decidedly infuriating.  Even her name was impressive.  Helena Bertinelli.  Italian, obviously.  Though, you could tell that from simply looking at her, with her stupid perfectly straight dark hair and her stupid pouty lips.  Felicity hated her and they hadn’t even spoken yet.

Oliver nodded at Barry and Felicity as they sat down, “Felicity, Barry, this is Helena, an old friend from high school.”

She smiled, “You make it sound like it was a life time ago, Ollie.”

Felicity cringed at her sugary sweet voice and the nickname he rarely used.

Oliver smiled and answered, “Well, it’s been entirely too long.  I’m glad I’m getting the chance to reconnect with you.”

“Were you two a thing in high school?”  Felicity asked, taking a sip of her wine.

Helena laughed softly, “He wishes.  We were friends.”

Tommy scoffed, “Friends?  That’s a stretch.   Maybe friends with bene--”

Laurel kicked his leg under the table and joined the conversation, “I’m so glad we could all get together.  I’ve had a pretty stressful week at work and this such a treat.”

Barry put his menu down, “What’s been going on?”

“Well, I’m stuck working on a stupid domestic dispute case.  This man and woman are already in the middle of a nasty divorce.  So get this, he runs over her cat and now she’s suing him for mental and physical abuse.”  She took a sip of her wine and then continued, “He says that it was an accident, that it didn’t mean anything.”

Their plates arrive and they began eating before Oliver commented, “A lot of things happen that just don’t mean anything.” 

Felicity eyes cut towards him and her jaw clenched as she nodded, “You’re right, Oliver.  Maybe this guy just wasn’t thinking.  But, then again, she had a life with that cat.  He was important to her.  And the man’s recklessness caused her a lot of pain.”

Oliver eyes met hers, “Well it could’ve certainly been the other way around.  If it had been his cat that she ran over, it would’ve been her mistake.”

“Well it wasn’t his cat.  I’m sure she respected his cat.  It was her cat who suffered.”

They stare each other down until Tommy steps in, “Well enough talk about this case.  I’m sure Laurel needs to keep an unbiased opinion on it.”  He turned to Helena and said, “So, tell us a little about yourself.  I haven’t seen you since graduation.  Do you still live in Starling or are you home visiting family?

She smiled, “I actually live with my parents right now.  You probably remember the place, the three of you came out to quite a few parties back in high school.”

Tommy grinned, “Ahh, the big lake house off the highway.  You don’t forget a place like that.”

She continued, “That’s the one.”

Felicity spoke up, “So we have another trust fund kid at the dinner table.  If I had that kind of life, I probably wouldn’t move out either.”

If Helena was offended by that, she didn’t show it.  She just responded, “Actually, after my fiancé, Michael, passed away last year I just didn’t feel comfortable in the house we had built together.  It was supposed to be a wedding present to me, but we never made it to the wedding.  So I’m back with my parents until I figure out what to do next.”  Helena explained.

Felicity nodded and looked down at her glass.

Laurel asked, “What are you leaning towards?”

“Well, I donated my trust fund after Michael passed.  I wanted to do something in his memory.  I don’t want to live off of my parents much longer so I’ll probably end up going back to school to finish my special needs teaching degree.”

Felicity had pushed her food around on her plate until she couldn’t stand the literal perfection sitting across from her any longer.  Pushing back on her stair, she stood up, “I’m sorry, I’m feeling a little light headed all of a sudden.  I’m going to step outside for a minute.”

All three of the men stood up as she exited the room and Barry looked at Oliver, “That was weird, right?”

Oliver shrugged and sat back down, “You tell me.  You’re her boyfriend.”  Barry hesitated sitting back down or going to check on her and Oliver added, “Men check on their dates, Barry.  Put on your big boy pants and go out there.”

Tommy and Laurel looked to each other but kept their heads down to avoid eye contact with either of the men.  This was not an argument they wanted any part of.

Oliver calmly picked up his fork and knife and then looked over at Helena, “I’m sorry.  I’ve had a really bad day today, I think I’m making an ass of myself.”

She took a sip of her drink and shrugged, “You don’t seem any different than when I knew you in high school.  Don’t worry about me.  Though, your girlfriend out there seems a little peeved at you.”

Oliver’s grip on his utensils tightened at her words.  As much as he had tried to grow, he was still no better a man than he was in high school.

He looked at her, at this wonderful woman who deserved someone who didn’t use her to upset someone else.  He shook his head and put his utensils down.

“I’m sorry, Helena.  I’ve been a very rude dinner date and I’m not quite through.  I need to go apologize to her.  You’ll have to excuse me.”

He stood up and left the room, leaving Tommy, Laurel, and Helena sitting in the restaurant.

Tommy cleared his throat and sat his wine glass down, “I don’t know about you two, but I’d much rather see the show outside than finish my dinner.”

Laurel and Helena looked at each other briefly and nodded.

 

Oliver found Felicity and Barry on a bench a few yards down from the restaurant’s entrance.  He shoved his hands in his pockets and headed towards them.  He figured that he’d know what to say when he got there.

He didn’t.

Felicity and Barry looked up at Oliver.  After a moment of silence, Felicity spoke up, “Did you need something?”

Oliver cleared his throat, “Um, you left quickly.  I was seeing if you were okay.”

“As I was telling Barry, I’m fine.  Just a bit light headed.”

He nodded, “Right.  Okay then.”  He turned around to walk away and then closed his eyes and shook his head.  He knew what he really needed to say.

Turning back around, he said, “I’m sorry for being an ass in there.”

Barry spoke before Felicity could, “Yeah, what was that all about?”

Ignoring him, Oliver continued, “But I’m sorrier for what happened earlier today.”

“What happened earlier today?” Barry questioned, looking between the two of them.

Felicity hadn’t made a sound or a movement since he turned around again, afraid of what might come out of his mouth.  And then her fears materialized.

Barry stood up as Tommy, Laurel and Helena make their way over.  Felicity could be hearing things, but she could swear she heard Tommy whisper that they were lucky they didn’t miss it.

“What happened today, Oliver?”  Barry repeated.

Oliver took a deep breath and then spoke, “I kissed her.  I’m sorry that I disrespected you two’s relationship.”  He looked at Felicity, “And I am sorry that I put you in an uncomfortable position with my recklessness and I’m sorry that I upset you.”

Barry looked back at Felicity and nodded a few times before looking back at Oliver.  Oliver might’ve added that he didn’t regret the moment, just the repercussions, but he didn’t get the chance.  Turns out, Barry may be a man child, but he could throw a punch.

 

 

When things came into focus, he realized that Tommy’s left eyebrow was slightly larger than his right.

“Tom, you wanna give me a few feet?”  He muttered.

Tommy grinned and stood up from his swatting position, “He’s fine.”  He grabbed Oliver’s hand and pulled him up, “Oh man, I did not see that coming.  All of us came to the consensus that you shouldn’t feel bad about getting sucker punched by the kid because no way could you have seen it coming.”

Oliver touched his finger tips to his eye and winced, “Can’t say I didn’t deserve that.”  He looked around, “Where did they go?”

Helena answered, “After you hit the ground and she made sure you were alive, she got real mad.  Your girlfriend and her boyfriend headed down the street, yelling at each other.  It ended in her getting in a cab and him walking the other direction.”

“Well shit.” Oliver concluded.

Tommy and Laurel nodded.  Laurel answered, “That didn’t really go as planned, huh?  Kudos, though, to trying to fix things before they got bad.”

Oliver grabbed his beanie from the inside of his pea coat and shoved it on his head, “I’m going to walk home.”  He looked at Helena, “I’m sorry for everything.”

She shrugged, “Hell, that was much more entertaining than my usual Saturday night.  Don’t worry about me, Queen.”

He nodded and walked off.

Helena quickly turned around and said, “Okay, twenty bucks says he ends up going to see her.”

“I’m not taking a bet I know I’ll lose, Helena.”  Tommy countered, “But I have forty on them being together by this time next week.”

Laurel shook her head, “Nope.  I say two weeks.”

“Are we horrible people?”  Helena mused.

Tommy shrugged, “Does it really matter?”

“Nope.  Just curious.”

 

Oliver was going to walk home, he really was.  Or, at least to Verdant, where there was an abundance of alcohol.  But somehow he ended up standing under Felicity’s apartment building.  He should keep walking.  He should let what happened blow over.  He apologized and yeah, it may have caused problems for her and Barry, but he didn’t say she kissed him back.  If he knew what was good for both of them, he’d keep walking.  Despite knowing this, he found himself just wanting to know if she was okay.

He headed for the door, but looked up again.  Her apartment was three stories up and had a safe-ish looking fire escape.  He had a feeling she’d be more likely to let him in if he was standing out in the cold instead of outside her door.

 

Felicity paced her living room, fuming.  She couldn’t believe the nerve of Barry, punching Oliver like a caveman.  She also couldn’t believe Oliver had the audacity to be such an ass at dinner and then turn around and be so apologetic.  He was like a freaking sourpatch kid.  Sour, sweet, then gone.  She had no idea what he was thinking at any given moment.  The only thing she took from the night was that he was sorry he kissed her.  And that she was more upset than she should have the right to be that he regretted it.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of tapping coming from her bedroom.  She looked around for something to use as a weapon and only came up with the remote.  She opened the door to her bedroom and the tapping immediately became louder.  It was coming from her window.  Hesitantly, she walked over to it and holding the remote back with one hand, she pulled her curtains up and then screamed.

After a moment of shock, she put her hand over her heart and closed her eyes, “What the hell are you doing, Oliver?”

He tapped his ear, signaling that he couldn’t hear her.

“Oh, right.  You can’t hear me.  You're an ass.  Your beanie looks dumb.  But your face does not...  You really can’t hear me.”  She dropped her remote and unlocked the window.

Oliver pushed it open and jumped inside, shivering, “You took long enough.  It’s freezing out there.” 

He turned around to close it behind him and she answered, “Well excuse me.  I wasn’t expecting someone to climb my fire escape.  The average house guest comes through the front door.”

“Yeah well, I wasn’t sure you’d let me through the front door.”

She sat on the edge of her bed and motioned for him to take a seat in her chair, “What are you doing here, Oliver?”

He sat down and shrugged, “I wanted to see if you were okay.  I didn’t mean to cause more problems.”

She sighed, “There wouldn’t have been more problems without me.  Things got messed up because of both of us, I can’t let you take all of the blame.”

“I deserve it.  Everything I do ruins something for someone.”

She tilted her head to the side, “Why do you say that?”

His shoulders rose and fell, “Because it’s true.  I’ve tried to change since the island.  To be better than I was before, but it doesn’t matter.  I deserve everything that happens to me.  Barry could’ve hit me a thousand times and I would’ve deserved another.”

She was quiet for a moment before whispering, “Tell me what happened on that island.”

 “I can’t.  You don’t understand.”

“Then make me understand, Oliver!  Please.  I am begging you to just let me all the way in.  Stop pushing me away.”

He shook his head, “If you knew, if you knew what I did.  I can barely look at myself in the mirror, Felicity.”  Tears threatened to spill over, but he continued, “I never meant for it to happen.”

She bent down in front of him and took his hands in hers, “Never meant for what to happen?  What happened?”

He was silent for a while, looking down.  He whispered, “The pilot’s name was Josh.  I knew his family.  His wife made me cookies a few birthdays ago.  His son rode with us to Vancouver once.  He was a good man.”  He added, even softer, “I killed him.”

Felicity shook her head, “That crash wasn’t you’re fault, Oliver.  You can’t blame yourself like that.”

He looked up as the tears fell, “He didn’t break both legs in the crash.  He landed perfectly fine like I did.  He didn’t die until I killed him.”

She squeezed his hands harder, forcing him to look at her, “What are you talking about?”

He shook his head, “We were so hungry.  And tired.  And scared.  God, Felicity, I was so scared.  Josh was the one who believed we’d make it out.  He kept saying ‘When we get back..’  every time he talked about something.  Every time he said it, I just got more angry, more sure that we never would.  I didn’t know anyone was looking for us, that you were looking for me.”

He paused and looked down again, “I told him to shut up about going home.  He stood up and told me to make him.”

A tear fell from Felicity’s cheek.

He continued, “I didn’t mean for it to happen.  I pushed him and he pushed me back and all of this rage from both of us just came out and before I knew it, we were rolling down a hill, grabbing anything we could find.”  He ran one of his hands over his torso, down the jagged scar.

She looked down where his hand was and it clicked, “You lied, about the scar.  You didn’t get it falling.  You got it fighting.”

He shook his head again, “No, I did get it falling.  But it wasn’t a tree branch, it was a jagged rock that ended up saving my life. The hill dropped off into a ravine.  Landing the rock kept me from falling the whole way, like Josh.  I tried to grab him, I swear I did.”

She was quiet for a moment, “Why didn’t you tell me?  Or anyone?”

He stood up and ran his hands through his cropped hair, “Yeah because that’s a great vacation story. ‘Hey one time, I chilled for two months on an island.  Got a really good tan.  Killed a guy.’  No one wants the truth, Felicity!  Everyone, my mom, Tommy, they want the guy from before.  This carefree kid who smiles a lot, who jokes around.” 

He looked back at her and his expression broke her heart, “I can’t find him.  I don’t even know where to look.”

She stood up and wrapped her arms around him as his forehead falls on her shoulder.  She doesn’t know how long they stand there, him crying on her shoulder.  But she knew that she would stand with him as long as he would let her.

He let out a deep breath and pulled back.  She reached up and put a hand on his cheek.  Choosing her words carefully, she spoke, “Oliver, I want you to know that whatever experiences you had to go through, I’m glad that you did.  They shaped the person you are today."  She paused before continuing, "And you know how I feel about him.  You may not be what you think your mom or Tommy wants you to be, but you are a good man.  You went through hell and you survived and you have to stop blaming yourself and punishing yourself for making it back.  His death was an accident.  You fought to live, so start living.”  
           

Oliver nodded, leaning his forehead against hers and for a moment he felt like he could breathe.  She knew and she didn’t hate him.  She didn’t push him away.  He smiled at the thought that maybe tonight would end much better than he had anticipated.  He pulled his head away and looked down at her.  Her eyes met his and he knew she felt the same way.

She ran her hands down his arms and they rested on his forearms.  Just as he began to lean forward, her doorball rang.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”  He muttered, making her smile. 

She squeezed his arms, “I’ll be right back.”

He nodded and sat back down in her armchair while she headed to her door.  He listened as she opened the door.

It was Barry.  He brought flowers.  She didn’t realize florists were open so late.  They both chuckled.  He’s sorry that he punched Oliver.  And that he yelled at her.  She said she should’ve told him about the kiss and that people in relationships should never keep something like that to themselves.

Oliver shook his head and stood up.  He didn’t want to hear the rest of their conversation.  He could see where it was headed from a mile away and it would only leave him back where he started.  Alone.  He looked around her room once and sighed.  He grabbed his beanie and climbed back out through her window and into the cold night. 


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I am SO sorry I've taken so long to get another chapter out. I am also sorry that this chapter isn't as long as the others. A lot of life hit me all at once and I've just been swamped. Thank you all for being patient. I promise that I will finish this story!!

Felicity knew she needed to have this conversation.  She wasn’t sure what was happening with Oliver, but she knew whatever it was, it was worth exploring.  She let Barry inside and gestured for him to sit down.

He sat her flowers on her counter and took a seat on the couch.  She took the spot next to him and reached out to hold his hand.  It felt almost wrong to be having this conversation with Barry while Oliver sat in the other room, but she supposed it was like killing two birds with one stone.

Looking down, she shook her head, “Look at your hand.”

He shrugged, “It looks worse than it feels, I promise.  I don’t know what came over me.  He was just standing there and I was so mad.”

“I shouldn’t have put you in a position to be blindsided like that, not that I condone fighting, but I should’ve told you.”

He sighed, “Why didn’t you?”

She shrugged, “I don’t know.  He acted like it didn’t happen so I did too.”  She took a deep breath and continued, “But, it did happen.  And as much as it would be easier to pretend otherwise, I can’t.  I don’t want to.”

His eyes met her and he nodded, “When we got off that plane to find him, I told you that I wanted to help you get over loving someone who didn’t feel the same because I knew how it felt.  But I’ve just been fooling myself to believe that he didn’t feel the same way.  I selfishly wanted him to only see you as a friend even though I knew that it crushed you.  I should’ve cut my losses a long time ago.”

She shook her head, “None of this is your fault, Barry.  I’ve had plenty of opportunities to face my own feelings for him and I’ve continually pushed them away.  And that has led to hurting you, which is the last thing ever I wanted to do.”

He squeezed her hands, “I’d say we've both made some mistakes here.” He sighed, “You and me, we should be perfect together.  On paper, we are.  And honestly, I could chase after you, but I’d always be running.  You’ll never look at me the way you look at him and we both deserve more than that.”

She sat quietly for a moment before answering, “I’m sorry.”

He leaned forward and kissed her forehead, “Don’t be sorry, okay.  I’m not.  We had something real.  It wasn’t forever, but it was real, and that’s got to be enough.”

He stood up and she followed him to her door.  He turned around and pulled her into a tight hug, “Goodbye, Felicity.”

“Bye, Barry.”  And almost like a flash, he was out of her life.

 

Felicity shut the door and pressed her forehead to it for a moment, gathering the courage to walk back into her room.  She desperately wanted to know how Oliver felt about what was admitted between her and Barry but scared at the same time.  She knew there were feelings between the two of them and she couldn’t ignore them anymore, but deep down she was worried that hers ran deeper than his.

Taking a deep breath, she turned around and headed toward her room.  There was only one way to find out.

Opening the door, she knew instantly that her worries were valid.  He was gone.

 

After a bottle of wine, Felicity rationalized that Oliver Queen was simply a tease.  Always close but never actually attainable.  The second bottle decided she needed to listen to an entire Beyoncé album while frantically cleaning her house.  It was the third one that did the trick.  She thought it was what she needed to seal close the rest of her thoughts of Oliver.  Turns out cheap zinfandel just fucks you over.

She woke up the next morning in her bathtub, fully clothed, spooning with her ceiling fan duster.

“I’m. Never. Drinking. Again.”  She muttered to herself before sitting up.  She took a moment to let her world stop spinning and then simply reached behind her and turned on her shower.  Nothing like an ice cold hungover fully clothed shower to give you the time you need to regret every single life choice you’ve ever made.

 She called in sick to work and spent her day holed up in her room, watching reruns of Sex and the City, fully aware that she was wallowing in self-pity.  She didn’t care.

 

The next morning rolled around and she knew she needed to put her feelings aside and do the job she was being paid to do.  The last thing she wanted to do was see Oliver after everything that happened, or didn’t happen.  But, it was her job, and she loved it.

Walking quickly through the hallway and dodging under Oliver’s door window she noticed his light was off.  She figured she had beaten him to work like she usually did.  Once she was safely in her office and alone she let out a deep sigh.  She hoped the feeling of utter despair and longing in the pit of her stomach every time she thought of Oliver would fade.  He was still one of the most important people in her life.  Sure, she loved him, but at the end of the day as long as he was in her life, she’d be happy.  Happy was a strong word.  She’d manage.

 

She was twenty minutes into the work she should’ve done yesterday when she heard footsteps in the hall.  She held her breath but didn’t look up.

“Knock knock, computer lady.”  Tommy said, leaning on the door frame to Felicity’s office.

She huffed and ushered him in, still not looking up from her screen, “Computer lady has a name and she’s very busy.  What’s up?”

“I grabbed you a coffee.”  He said, sitting the cup on her desk and sitting down before continuing, “And I wanted to see if you wanted to talk?”

“Talk about what?” she looked at him.

“Oh, I don’t know, about you and Barry breaking up and how that caused to Oliver to miss work yesterday.  He called in today and went ahead and took off the rest of the weekend.”

She held a hand up, “Firstly, that is not a causation, the word you’re looking for is correlation.  How does my break up correlate with Oliver’s absence.  Secondly, it does not, so please don’t start.”

“You love him.”

She closed her eyes and clenched her fists, “Oliver and I are just friends.  He’s made that perfectly clear, repeatedly.  You’re beating a dead horse.”

“Just friends don’t look at each other the way you two do.” He countered.

“Tommy, I’m fine.  Okay?  I don’t know why Oliver hasn’t been to work, but everything is fine.”

“But you’re not happy.” He challenged her.

She looked back at her computer, “Was there anything else you needed, work related, Tommy?  I’m kind of swamped at the moment.”

Tommy leaned forward and dropped his hands down hard on her desk, making her jump slightly and meet his gaze, “Oliver makes dumb choices.  I’ve known him his whole life, he always has.  He thinks with his head, never his heart.”  He pointed at her and added sharply, “You knew that and you fell in love with him anyway.  You can’t love him for his good qualities and not work with his flaws.  You two not being together is as much your fault as it is his and you know it.”

He stood up and walked out, leaving her speechless and staring at his empty chair.  She had never seen Tommy so angry.  She'd never seen him angry, period.  She ran her hand through her hair and leaned back in her chair.  She hated that he was upset.  She hated that she was the reason for it.  But she mostly just hated that he was right.  She knew Oliver.  She knew him better than almost anyone.  She knew he was a commitment phobe with a slight case of rich boy attitude.  She was told repeated by his own best friend to stay far away and here she was, hopelessly in love with him.

She paused for a moment, locked in an internal battle between what she wanted to do and what was safe.

"Fuck it."  She pushed back on her chair and stood up.  Maybe they would never work.  Maybe she was just kidding herself.  But if she knew one thing, it was that she was going to find out.


	15. Chapter 15

Brooke Davis was a lot of things.  She was a millionaire.  She was a fashion designer.  A business woman.  She was a loyal friend.  A godmother.  Those were the titles she was used to hearing.  Jealous was not on the usual list.  Neither was irrational.  However, they were the only ones that fit her at the moment.

She stepped of the plane and adjusted her sunglasses, blatantly ignoring her assistant’s continual attempts to get her to rethink this idea.

“I’m just saying that inviting your ex to your best friend's wedding to your other ex to make your recent ex jealous doesn't seem like the most solid of plans.”  Millicent pleaded.

“I haven’t seen Oliver in a while and I need a date for Peyton’s wedding.  That’s simply all there is to it.”

Her assistant’s eyes narrowed, “So you don’t care in the slightest that Julian is going to be there with some girl.”

Brooke’s jaw flinched involuntarily and she turned around and made her way to their limo.  She shrugged and said without looking back, “I forgot he was even coming.” 

Brooke made her way into the limo waiting for her and patted the seat next to her, “Come on, we’re on a tight schedule.”

Millie’s shoulders sank and she sighed, sliding into the seat next to her boss.

 

 

Oliver woke to the sound of knocking.  Groining, he rolled over and grabbed his phone, finding that it was after lunch.

“Damn.”  He muttered.  He hadn’t meant to miss another morning at work.  He’d try again tomorrow.  Swinging his feet off his bed and made his way down the stairs and swung the door open.

Brooke put a hand over her mouth to cover the look of shock, “What the hell happened to you?”

Oliver looked down at his sweat pants and stained white t-shirt and then shrugged, “I’ve had a bad week.”

She shook her head and pushed forward into his apartment.  He moved out of her way as she looked around his unkempt house.

Turning back to him, she pointed her finger, “What happened with Felicity?”

His muscles tensed, “What are you doing here, Brooke?”

She crossed her arms, “I missed you.” she said, though it sounded more like a question.

“Try again.”

She sighed, “I like this guy named Julian and I have to go to Peyton’s wedding and he’s going to be there with some bimbo and I don’t want to go alone.”

Oliver was quiet for a moment before walking past her and up his stairs.

“Wait, where are you going?”  She called after him.

“You won’t be making this Julian guy jealous with me showing up looking like a homeless man.”  He yelled back.

She smiled and picked up her phone, dialing Millie.

“Hey, he’s coming.  I need you to bring me my travel bag, I just want to freshen up in his bathroom before we go because we won’t really have time after we land.”

Millicent nodded and climbed out of the limo, “On my way.”

 

Brooke grabbed her bag and headed to his second bathroom, leaving Millie alone in his living room.

She was just about to take a seat when someone knocked on his door.  She hesitated and looked up his stairs, hoping he heard it.  Hearing his shower running and realizing he hadn’t, she reluctantly headed towards the door.  Opening it, she came face to face with a petite blonde who had an unreadable expression on her face.

“Um, hi.”  Millie said.

The blonde immediately returned, “I didn’t realize Oliver had company, I can come back later.”

“Oh.  No, I’m not his company.  I mean, I am in his house, which I suppose would qualify me as company.  Though, he technically doesn’t even know I’m here so I’m not entirely sure where that puts me.”

A worried look crept into the blonde’s features and Millie quickly added, “I didn’t break in!  I’m Miss Davis’ assistant.”

The blonde froze for a moment and then took a step back, “Brooke is here?”

Millie didn’t miss the distress coating the woman’s voice.  She nodded, “Yes, she’s freshening up while Mr. Queen is in the shower.  They have a plane to catch in an hour.  Do you want to wait in here for him to come down or for me to leave a message?”

The small woman threw up her hands, “NO.  I mean, no, thank you.  I work for Mr. Queen and just had a question.  It can wait until Monday since he is on a schedule.”

Millie felt like she was missing something, “So, don’t tell him you came by?”

“Yeah, just don’t mention it.”  She replied and turned around before Millie stopped her.

“Hey, wait a second.”  The woman turned around before Millie continued, “It was rude of me not to introduce myself.  I’m Millicent.”

The young blonde took Millie’s outstretched hand and replied, “Felicity.  It was nice to meet you.”

Millie smiled, “You too.”

Felicity made her way back down the hallway, leaving Millie standing in his open doorway.   Millie still felt like she was definitely missing something.  Your coworkers don’t generally just show up at your house to talk about work.  But, it wasn’t her business and she told the girl she’d keep it to herself, so that’s just what she did.

 

The plane ride went smoothly, Brooke filling Oliver in on the last few months of her life and the new man that was causing so many problems.

“So, you like him and he likes you but he’s bringing another girl to your best friend’s wedding?”

She shrugged, “Well it’s more complicated than that, but that’s the short version I guess.”

Oliver nodded and took a sip of his scotch the attendant just brought him, “Dude sounds like a douche.”

Brooke laughed, “There is a pot and a kettle mixed in that statement somewhere.”

Oliver sat up straighter and pulled out his phone, “I need to tell my parents I won’t be at dinner on Sunday.”

Brooke didn’t miss the sudden change of subject and his face jammed into the screen of his phone.  Something happened.  If he wouldn’t voluntarily give up the information, she knew someone who would.

 

 

The wedding was beautiful and Oliver managed to be the perfect date despite being somewhere else mentally.  He couldn’t get Felicity out of his head.  Every vow that was said, every kiss, every smile just reminded him of what he would have to miss out on with her.  He had to remind himself that if he loved her, really loved her, he’d just be happy that she was happy.  That didn’t make it hurt less.

It wasn’t until the second slow song and Brooke stepping on his toes purposefully that he remembered his mission here was to make Julian jealous.  He pulled her in a little closer and ran his hand from her shoulder blades down to the base of his back.

“Bout damn time, Queen.”

He smiled as she wrapped her arms tighter around his neck, “Is this too awkward?”

He shook his head, “Surprisingly, no.  I just want you to be happy.  If giving this guy the push he needs will do that, then flirt away.”

“Thank you.”

 

They danced two more songs before a tall man with curly hair tapped his shoulder.  Oliver looked over and the man spoke, “Would you mind if I stepped in for a dance?”

Oliver looked back at Brooke, who just shrugged and then he shrugged himself, “Sure.”  He stepped back and the man stepped in.

As Oliver walked towards the open bar he looked back at Brooke, who used the hand resting on his shoulder to give Oliver a thumbs up.

Oliver smiled as he ordered another scotch and took a seat next to Lucas and Peyton.

“Hey, congratulations.  Thanks for having me.”

“I’m glad I finally got to meet you.  I missed the last time you came around.”  Peyton answered.

“You didn’t miss much.”  Lucas countered.

Oliver laughed, “Your husband thought I was using Brooke for her money.”

Peyton looked over at Lucas, who had looked away, “Did you not know he was Oliver Queen.  As in Queen Consolidated?”

Lucas huffed, “I don’t watch the news, okay.  It’s depressing.”

They all laughed and Oliver leaned back in his chair, “I’m just glad I got to help her out.  She deserves so much happiness.”

“Can I ask you your take on what happened between you two?  I don’t entirely get it.  You two seemed so perfect for each other.”  Lucas questioned.

Oliver took a deep breath, thinking about what he wanted to say before answering, “Okay, so you and Peyton.  You look at her and you see your future, right?  You see the mother of your children.  The person you build a house with.  She’s the last person you see before you fall asleep and the first person you see when you wake up.  I see all of that too.”

“Okay?  So, what’s the issue?”

“The issue is that her name is Felicity.”

Lucas leaned back in his chair, “So you dated Brooke knowing you loved Felicity.”

He held up his hands, “No, not at all.  She saw it before I ever did.  For so long I confused friendship and love.  I cared about Felicity so deeply, but I loved Brooke.  By the time that I really realized how I felt about her, Brooke was kissing me on the forehead and telling me she deserved more.”

Lucas nodded, “That sounds like someone I used to know.”

“Who?”

He shrugged, “Me.”

Peyton interrupted, “Okay, I can see now that Mr. Broody and Mr. Broody don’t need to be at the same table anymore.  This is a wedding.  Brooke is happy.  Look at her.  Stop feeling guilty, Oliver.  Go get your girl if you want her.  Lucas, dance with me before I find someone else who will.”

She stood up and Lucas laughed, “You heard the woman.”

Oliver watched them walk out to the dance floor and couldn’t help let the feeling of jealousy creep in on him.  He was like Lucas in a lot of ways.  They both recognized the beauty and grace that was Brooke Davis, but they were simply meant for someone else.  Lucas got his someone else.  He was left with the memory of a single kiss to get him by.

 

The rest of the night when by slowly for Oliver.  He was happy to help Brooke and enjoyed all of her friends, but he was feeling homesick for the friends he had continually pushed away over the last few weeks.

After the reception ended, Lucas and Peyton left for their honeymoon.  The group of them headed to Nathan’s friend’s beach house for drinks and a fire on the beach.

Oliver grabbed a beer out of the cooler and shook the guy’s hand, “It’s Clay, right?  Thanks for having me.”

Clay smiled and nodded, “Any friend of Brooke’s is a friend of mine.”

They all settled down in beach chairs around the fire.  Brooke sat down next to Oliver and curled herself into the blanket she brought. “Thank you again for coming, you really helped me more than you know.”

“I don’t see your guy here, I must have done something wrong.”  Oliver returned.

“He had to get back to work, but we left things on a really positive note.”

Haley interrupted, “You know, it was mean the way you played him.  His face was so pitiful.”

Brooke shrugged, “Yeah well, he shouldn’t have showed up with that bimbo.”

Haley smiled and just shook her head, “You can take Brooke out of high school, but sometimes you can’t take high school out of Brooke.”

Oliver laughed, “I want to know more about high school Brooke.”

“NO.  This always happens.  No.  We’re going to talk about what I want to talk about.  You’ve been with me all day and I haven’t said a thing.  I’ve been so good.  But now it’s time.”  Brooke said, her eyes focused like lasers on Oliver.

Oliver groaned and leaned his head back in his beach chair.  Sighing, he answered, “She chose Barry.”

“Bull shit.”  Brooke returned, “I call bull shit.  What’s the rest of the story!?”

He shrugged, “I kissed her.  Barry found out.  Barry punched me.  She left him and I thought I had a shot so I went to her apartment and we had this moment.  Or, what I thought was a moment and then her doorbell rang.”

“And it was that ass-hat Barry, wasn’t it?”  Nathan questioned from across the fire.

Oliver smiled despite himself, “Yeah.  It was Barry.  He apologized and brought flowers and she said she was sorry for keeping the kiss from him.”

“And?”  Brooke questioned.

He rubbed his hands together and then out towards the fire, “And what more is there?  I could see that they were going to work things out so I left through her fire escape.”

Brooke calmly took off one of her gloves and slapped him in the face with it, “You are such an idiot, Oliver Queen!”

“Ow, stop!” He held up his arm to block her swings, “I just left before she could politely turn me down.”

“There is no world in which Felicity Smoak would turn you down, you stupid, stupid man!  Maybe she ended things with him.  Maybe she needs time.  But you two are meant for each other!”

“I’m sorry, did you just said Felicity?”  Millie interrupted.

Oliver paused and looked over at her, “Yes?”

Millie stood and clasped her hands together, “Short.  Blonde.  Like, really really pretty in a way that makes you kind of hate her but want to be her friend at the same time?”

Brooke answered, “Yep.  That's definitely her.”

“How do you know Felicity?”  Oliver questioned.

“Um… Okay, so I’d like to start by saying I didn’t want to be at your apartment anyway.  This whole plan was stupid.  And then I was just trying to be polite because you were in the shower and now I’ve possibly definitely ruined your life.”

He walked over to her and laid his hands on her shoulders, “Millie, breathe.  What are you talking about?”

“Felicity came to your house while you were in the shower but I didn’t know she was more than an employee.  She said not to mention her coming by, that what she needed was about work and could wait until Monday.  I had no idea.”  She blurted out.

He stepped back and put both of his hands on his head, “Shit. Shit, shit, shit.”

“I’m so sorry.”  She added.

He shook his head, “No, none of this is your fault.  Everything with her has just spiraled out of control.  I’ve had so many opportunities to tell her how I feel.  I’ve been a coward.  This is my fault.”

He grabbed his jacket from his chair and headed down towards the beach.

Brooke watched him walk away and grabbed Mouth as he was getting up to follow him, “Hey, I know you like being there for people, but trust me, he needs to be alone.”


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ending this story tonight, on my birthday, seems fitting. I hope you've all enjoyed reading this as much as I've enjoyed writing it! Thank you for all of the support!

Oliver walked up and down the beach, listening to the sound of the waves cascading over one another.  In the dark, he couldn’t tell the difference between this beach and the beach he had spent two months living on.  The sounds were the same.  The feelings within him were the same.  Longing for what kept escaping his grasp.  Regret for all of the things he could have said and done differently.  But most of all, love.  Even with everything that had happened between them, the only thing he felt when he thought of Felicity Smoak was love.  He wanted to love her, to show her what he felt every day, for as long as she would let him.

He was beyond worried about what she was going through, thinking he was just vacationing with Brooke.  He didn’t even think twice about helping her, but he was definitely thinking of how it would look to Felicity now. 

Shaking his head, he pulled out his phone and texted Tommy.  It read, _“Have you talked to Felicity recently?”_

Almost immediately, Tommy responded, _“Saw her yesterday morning.  Got into an argument.  She wasn’t at work today.  Why?”_

Oliver quickly wrote back, _“Can you just check on her?  I’ll be back in town tomorrow afternoon, but I need to know if she’s alright.”_

 _“Ask her yourself.”_   Tommy returned.

Oliver let out a growl and sat down on the cold sand, closing his eyes and resting his head on his raised knees.  Tommy was right, he needed to man up and address situations on his own.  Just as he was pulling up her number to dial he received another text from Tommy.

It read, _“Literally.”_

He looked down, confused.  What was that supposed to mean?

 

 “You know, all those years at M.I.T. and I never saw the coast and now here I am on it, and it’s night time.  I can’t see anything.”

Oliver’s head shot up and his eyes met a very calm and collected Felicity Smoak, sitting next to him on the beach, thousands of miles away from where he thought she’d be.

She continued before he could find any words to say, “I gotta say, I’m a little disappointed.  It’s cold and windy and to be completely honest, the company is a little broody.”

The corner of his mouth twitched up involuntarily at her ramblings. 

“What are you doing here?”  He managed to voice.

She shrugged, “You haven’t been to work.”

“So you travel three thousand miles to see when I'll be back at work?”  He questioned.

She pushed the sand beneath her around with her fingertips, “I take my job very seriously.”

She stood up suddenly and held her hands out to help him up.  He looked at them for a moment, wondering what the hell was happening.  He pushed the question down and grabbed them.

She began walking backwards towards the water, still holding his hands.

“Felicity, that water is ice cold.  It’s February.”

She stopped and replied, “I’ve spent a lot of time alive but not living, Oliver.  So, I’m going to turn around and get in this water that I never took the chance to get in before.  You don’t have to come with me.”

He watched her turn around and walk purposefully into the water.  He crossed his arms and waited, slightly amused by her determination.

 

Roughly fifteen seconds later, she was walking purposefully back towards him, her legs soaking wet.

“Why on earth would you let me do that?!  I can’t feel my legs.  I’m going to get hypothermia and die!”

He laughed and took off his jacket, draping it around her, “You aren’t going to die.  You were having a moment.  I didn’t want to interrupt it with logic.”

She shivered and curled tighter into his jacket, “I hate you.”

“No.”  He said, moving closer, invading her personal space, “You don’t.” 

She met his intense stare with one of her own, “No.  I don’t.”

He stepped even closer, still holding on to his jacket, “Why are you here?”

She looked down, “Why did you leave my apartment?”

He shook his head, “No, you could have called to ask me that.  I want to know what you are doing here, tonight?” 

She took a deep breath, “I want to know, in person, why you keep running away.  There is something here, between us, and every time there is any hope, you vanish.  I'm done playing games and I'm done wondering what you're thinking.  I want real answers and I want them right now.”

She called him out for what he knew he had been doing for months.  He wasn’t sure if he knew how to put his feelings into words but he gave it his best shot.  He replied, “I screw up a lot, Felicity.  I’m not Barry.  I just want you to be with someone who can maturely talk about their feelings.  Who doesn’t run the moment things get hard.  I'm not that man, not yet.  You deserve that." He sighed and added, "The thing is, I just want you to be happy, even if it can't be with me.”

“God, you don’t get it at all.” She shook her head and looked up at him, placing her hands on both sides of his face, “You, stupid.  You are my happiness.  The good, the bad, all of you.  Every piece.  Even when I can’t see straight I’m so angry at you, I can’t imagine anyone else having the power to make me feel that way.  I don’t know when it happened.  I went from being your IT girl to being your go to girl in general, to not being anything at all.  I don't know when the line blurred from friends to more but it did and nothing about you and me has ever been easy other than knowing that I love you, that I'm in love with you.”

Oliver stood in shock for a moment, both of her hands still resting on his cheeks.  He found his voice and whispered, “Me?”

Her face lit up as she said, “Oliver Queen, it’s always been you.”

She didn’t give him the chance to reply.  The hands on his face drew him into a tender kiss.  Unlike the rushed moment of passion at the club, this was a moment she wanted to get right.  She wanted to remember the moment she laid everything on the table for the man she loved.

One of his hands came to rest on her waist as the other tangled in the hair surrounding her neck.  He pulled her into him until he wasn’t sure where he ended and she began.  He remembered their first kiss, full of tension and pent up frustrations.  This one was different.  As she wrapped her arms around his neck, he felt they were sharing an intimate moment they would never forget.  The start of something beautiful.

“This is a public beach!  Get a room!”

They broke apart hastily, surprised by the interruption.  Oliver knew the interruption anywhere.

He looked over to find Tommy walking down the beach, holding a bottle of champagne and three glasses.

“I wasn’t one hundred percent sure if everything was going well at first.  There was that moment when it looked like Felicity was sacrificing herself to the ocean and you were just watching.  But then you starting making out so I figured it was safe to celebrate!”  Tommy grinned.

“What the hell are you doing here?”  Oliver questioned with a smile on his face he didn’t think would ever go away.

He shrugged, “How exactly do you think she got here so fast?  It wasn’t a commercial plane, I can tell you that.  I got a text from Brooke saying that you were with her going to Tree Hill for a wedding to make some guy jealous and you were extra broody.  She wanted to know what happened with you two.  I explained all that I knew and then she said that if I could get Felicity here, she would make sure we could find you.”

He turned to Felicity, “So you flew across the country for me instead of just waiting until I got back?”

She took his hand in hers and their fingers intertwined, “I’ve been across the world to find you.  Three thousand miles was nothing.”

He leaned down and kissed her gently on the forehead, “I love you too, by the way.”

“Yeah?” she bit her lip and smiled up at him.

He nodded with a smile, “Yeah.”

Tommy coughed and held out the bottle and two of the glasses, “I can see now that this celebration is more of a two person kind of thing.  I’ll leave you to it.”

Walking away, he called out behind him, “But this is a public beach, keep it PG-13, people.”

They laughed and as he walked away, Felicity spoke, “He’s something.”

Oliver popped the bottle of champagne, making Felicity squeal in surprise, “You’re something.”

He poured them both a glass and held his up.  She did the same and looked around before saying, “There’s not much to toast to out here in the dark.”

“No, but there’s us.”  He replied firmly.

She grinned, “Us.  I like the sound of that.”

“You know, someone once told me that love isn’t about changing or saving a person.  It’s about finding the person who’s already the right fit.” He paused and took a deep breath, “You’ve always accepted me exactly as I am.  You didn’t save me, but rather, you helped me save myself in more ways than you know.  It took me entirely too long to see it, but you’ve always been it for me.  You’ll always be my girl, Felicity.  ”

Tears fell from her cheeks and she laughed, wiping them away, “Happy tears, I promise.” She tapped her glass against his and said, “To us, finally getting it right.”

“To us.”  He replied.

They stood there for a moment, letting reality settle in on them.  They were here.  This was real.  Some people spent their whole lives looking for the right fit.  Oliver Queen found his in a nerdy IT girl who floored him in every way possible.  She was a puzzle he’d spend forever trying to solve.

 

“Wanna make out some more?” She asked, pulling him from his thoughts.

He shrugged, “Do you even have to ask?”

 

Yes, forever sounded good to him.


End file.
